Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivering an inaugural lecture on “Challenges of the 2024 Election: The Role of the Constitutional Court and Higher Education Institutions,” Friday (10/20/2023) at the University of Bangka Belitung. Photo by MKRI/Hamdi.

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BANGKA BELITUNG (MKRI) — Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivered an inaugural lecture on “Challenges of the 2024 Election: The Role of the Constitutional Court and Higher Education Institutions” on Friday, October 20, 2023 at the University of Bangka Belitung. He highlighted that based on Article 22E paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, the 2024 Election is divided into several clusters: to elect members of the DPR (House of Representatives), DPD (Regional Representatives Council), president and vice president, and DPRD (Regional Legislative Council). In addition, the upcoming 2024 Election will involve the simultaneous regional election followed by 548 regions, consisting of 38 provinces, 415 regencies, and 98 cities. The general and regional election will take place in 2024, but in different months. According to the KPU’s (General Elections Commission) schedule, the election for DPR, DPD, president and vice president, and DPRD will take place in February, while the regional head election will take place in November.

Chief Justice Anwar also pointed out that as scheduled, the election should not be a mere five-year ceremony. Instead, it must be interpreted as a constitutional effort for the people to carry out periodic succession of national leadership in order to realize the Constitution’s ideals for a fair and prosperous society.

“In a democratic state system, it is the citizens’ right to determine who their future leaders will be, in order to realize the constitutional mandate and the citizens’ aspirations. That is why the electoral process is referred to as a democratic celebration for the people, because through this process, the people are placed in a noble position to determine the fate of the nation by selecting their leaders in the executive branch and their representatives in the legislature,” Justice Anwar added.

He further elaborated that the Constitution mandates that elections be direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair. Direct means every citizen must exercise their right to vote without being represented by anyone. Public means that elections must be open to the public, transparent, so that it can be accounted to the public. Free means that every citizen has the right to vote for any candidate without pressure from anyone. Confidential means that every citizen has the right not to broadcast the candidate they have chosen in the election process. Meanwhile, honest and fair means that every organizer or state apparatus involved in the general or regional election process from the initial stages to the resolution of disputes, must be honest and fair in carrying out election process

In his opinion, the simultaneous election in 2019 was incredibly demanding in terms of attention, resources, and energy. Some parties blamed the change in the electoral system, which previously separated the legislative and presidential elections, while others argued that the simultaneity of the election was a consequence of the presidential system adopted by the Constitution. Despite these differing perspectives, the Court has made sincere efforts to fulfill its constitutional mandate, which is to examine and decide on PHPU disputes to the best of its abilities and with utmost fairness.

“However, before I elaborate on the handling of PHPU dispute cases further, as a form of the Court’s responsibility to guard constitutional democracy, there are three things that need to be our common concern,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Chief Justice Anwar mentioned that the success of the election result dispute settlement in the Constitutional Court does not solely depend on the Court but also on stakeholders and entities involved in the electoral process, i.e. the candidates, political parties, election organizers, law enforcement apparatus, and ultimately the Constitutional Court. The same applies to elections in various countries. The success of implementing democracy and elections reflects the success of the entire nation. Therefore, he urged and hoped that leading up to the simultaneous election in 2024, all elements of the nation could work together to safeguard the upcoming democratic process to ensure that democracy is on the right track.

“On this occasion, I hope for the academic community to oversee the ongoing democratic process. Academics play a crucial role as a pillar of democracy and key players in ensuring the success and democratic nature of the upcoming simultaneous 2024 election. It is essential for us to collectively oversee this democratic process and keep it on the right track,” he emphasized.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Najwa Afifah Lukman/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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