Chief Justice entering the courtroom for a judicial review hearing of the Election Law for case No. 142/PUU-XXI/2023, Thursday (11/23/2023). Photo by MKRI/Fauzan.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was continued by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday, November 23, 2023. The case No. 142/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by Jonatan Ferdy.

The agenda for today’s hearing was to hear the revisions to the petition. However, based on the report from the Registrar’s Office, the Petitioner was not present.

“Therefore, the panel justices will report this situation to the justice deliberation meeting [to determine] the Court’s stance, which will be further notified to the petitioner through the Registrar’s Office,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo, who presided over the hearing alongside Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and Wahiduddin Adams.

Also read: Court Asked to Repeal Article 515 of Election Law Prohibiting Abstention

The Petitioner challenges Article 515 of the Election Law, which reads, “A person who, during voting, deliberately promises to give a voter money, gifts, or other incentive to not vote or to vote a certain way or to cast an invalid vote is criminally punishable with maximum imprisonment of 3 (three) years and a maximum fine of Rp 36,000,000.00 (thirty-six million rupiah).”

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner, who was present without a legal counsel, said that the criminalization of incitement to abstain or not vote in election was no longer relevant. He believes the article has caused harm to the community. In one of his arguments, he asserts that many people who are apathetic towards politics no longer care or find out the meaning of the abstinent group and the risks caused by its implementation of the provision. He emphasizes that the incitement to abstain in election is the right of every citizen, because every citizen has the right to express their thoughts, in accordance with the provisions of statutory laws and regulations.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
Translator  : Tahlitha Laela/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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