Ummat Party’s legal counsel reading out the subject matter at the preliminary judicial review hearing on the parliamentary threshold in the Election Law, Tuesday (10/10/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Ummat Party’s central executive board, represented by Ridho Ramhadi (chairman) and A. Muhajir (secretary-general), petitions Article 414 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) against Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 22E paragraph (1), and Article 28D paragraph (1) of 1945 Constitution. The preliminary hearing for case No. 124/PUU-XXI/2023 was presided over by Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, Arief Hidayat, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law reads, “A political party contesting in a legislative election must reach the electoral threshold, which is 4% (four percent) of the national number of valid votes, in order to be included in the seat allocation for DPR members.”

Ummat Party has passed verification and is a legitimate participant in the 2024 Election. However, based on the elections in 1999, 2004, 2014, and 2019, it has no seats in the House of Representatives (DPR). Because the Ummat Party did not engage in the discussion of the Election Law, it was barred from submitting a petition against the Election Law to the Constitutional Court.

In this case, Ummat Party questions the 4% threshold set for the DPR seats in the current Election Law. One of the Petitioner’s legal counsels Muhammad Yuntri said that the parliamentary thresholds set for the previous elections were 2% in 1999; and 3% for DPR and 4% for Provincial DPRD in the 2004 Election, in which 24 political parties participated. Meanwhile, in the 2009 Election, which was based on Law No. 10 of 2008 on General Elections of Members of DPR and DPRD, the threshold was 2.5% of the total number of national valid votes.

The Petitioner argued that the threshold for political parties to be included in the allocation of the DPR seat as stipulated in Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law is not only based on the acquisition of national valid votes. They believe that the accumulation of DPR seat acquisition of all electoral districts (dapil) must also be included since the “price” for a seat in electoral districts outside of the Java Island is lower than that inside Java. This system is another form of fair guarantee for a more proportional election as mandated by the Constitution.

Therefore, the Ummat Party requested the Court to declare Article 414 paragraph (1) of Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as, “A political party contesting in an election must reach the electoral threshold, which is 4% (four percent) of the national number of valid votes or 4% (four percent) of the number of DPR seats, in order to be included in the seat allocation for DPR members.”

Justices’ Advice

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said that the format of the petition was not in line with the provisions in Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021, so it needed to be adjusted accordingly. Next, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said that the Petitioner explain the relationship between the a quo article and the constitutional loss caused by the enactment of the norm. “So that the justices can see the Petitioner’s legal standing in this case,” she said.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh said that the Petitioner should read several decisions related to the case so as not to be declared ne bis in idem with previous petitions.

At the end of the hearing, Justice Foekh announced that the Petitioner would have 14 workdays to revise the petition. The revised petition should be submitted no later than Monday, October 23, 2023 at 09:00 WIB to the Registrar’s Office for the next hearing to be scheduled.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
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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