Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivering a decree on the withdrawal of the judicial review petition on the mechanism to elect president and vice president, Wednesday (9/27/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court held the ruling hearing for case No. 101/PUU-XXI/2023 on Article 6 and Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution. Chief Justice Anwar Usman read out the decree on the petition filed by Muhammad Yusuf Mansur and Muhammad Fauzan.

The Court received the petition on August 16, 2023 and held a panel preliminary examination hearing on September 14. Before the panel petition revision hearing, Justice Anwar continued, that the Court had received an email from the Petitioner, which requested the petition be withdrawn. Therefore, on September 21, the Court held a hearing to confirm the Petitioner’s request letter.

“[The Court] grants the withdrawal of petition; declares the petition No. 101/PUU-XXI/2023 on the judicial review of Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution against the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution withdrawn,” said Chief Justice Anwar Usman on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 in the plenary courtroom.

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At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, September 9, 2023, the Petitioners requested the annulment of Articles 6 and 6A of the 1945 Constitution UUD 1945 to the Constitutional Court (MK). They petitioned for the return to Article 6 prior to the amendment, which used to read, “(2) The President and Vice President shall be elected by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) by a majority vote.”

In the petition, the Petitioners argued that the amended articles have resulted in the shift in the general elections from representation through a majority vote in the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to direct elections. However, direct presidential, legislative, and local elections have flaws, such as the risk of violence between election contestants and high expense of election.

Furthermore, they asserted, the amendment had disregarded the fourth precept of Pancasila, which stipulates that leadership be decided by consensus. Therefore, in their petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the amendment to Articles 6 and 6A of the 1945 Constitution and amended Articles 6 and 6A for violating the fourth precept of Pancasila. They asked the constitutional justices to overturn the derivatives of both articles in the electoral laws on the presidential and local elections. They requested that the Court restore the election of the president and vice president as well as regional heads to the MPR.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Nyi Mas Laras Nur Inten Kemalasari/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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