A petition revision hearing for the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on Elections, Monday (2/19/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W. M.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a second material judicial review hearing of the provision on voting address change in Article 348 paragraph (4) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) on Monday, 19 February 2024 in the plenary courtroom. The Labor Party and private employee Cecep Khaerul Anwar filed the petition No. 28/PUU-XXII/2024.

At the petition revision hearing chaired by Chief Justice Suhartoyo, legal counsel Imam Nasef, who attended the hearing remotely, conveyed that the Petitioner had followed the justices’ advice to the best of his abilities. “The petition, initially spread 45 pages, is now only 36 pages. We have tried to make the petition more compact,” he explained.

He added that following the justices’ advice, point four of the explanation on the Court’s authority has been revised and the article has been mentioned specifically. “Relating to legal standing, we have studied the Labor Party’s statute/bylaws, which does not specifically mention who has the right to represent [the party] in and out of court, so we keep using Article 18 paragraph (1) letters a and b of the party’s statute/bylaws,” he stressed.

He also explained that the description of constitutional impairment had been revised. “We mention more specifically in point 25, the actual constitutional impairment, which according to legal reasoning is inevitable since Petitioner I has been officially declared an election contestant and will follow the 2024 election. However, it inevitably will lose its right and opportunity to be elected by relocating voters,” Imam asserted.

Also read: Labor Party Challenges Provision on Voting Address Change

At the preliminary hearing, Petitioner I asserted that he could experience specific and potential constitutional impairment which according to logical reasoning is inevitable due to the enforcement of Article 348 paragraph (4) letters a, c, d, and e of Law No. 7 of 2017. Their specific constitutional impairment is the loss of the right and opportunity to be elected as a contestant of the 2024 election. According to logical reasoning, the impairment is inevitable because Petitioner I has been officially declared a contestant in the 2024 election by the KPU, but will obviously lose their right and opportunity to be voted by voters who will vote outside of their original electoral district on voting day.

Meanwhile, Petitioner II possibly cannot vote in his registered domicile due to economic and geographical limitations, since he cannot return to his hometown to vote. He alleges that Article 348 paragraph (4) of the Election Law has restricted the Petitioners’ right and opportunity to vote and be elected as it stipulates that relocating voters can only vote for the president and vice president and cannot vote for members of the DPR (House of Representatives), DPD (Regional Representatives Council), and provincial and regency/city DPRD (Regional Legislative Council).

The Petitioners also proposed a provisional petitum to urge the Court to prioritize the case and rule it before election day on February 14 while maintaining compliance to its procedural law. For those reasons, they request that the Court accept and grant the petitums and declare Article 348 paragraph (4) of the Election Law conditionally unconstitutional and not legally binding.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Andhini S. F.
Translator  : 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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