Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, Arsul Sani, and Ridwan Mansyur opening the preliminary hearing of the judicial review of the Election Law, Monday (3/18/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Advocate Mohamad Ansyariyanto Taliki has filed a judicial review petition of Article 299 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections to the Constitutional Court (MK). The preliminary hearing for case No. 37/PUU-XXII/2024 took place on Monday, March 18, 2024 in the plenary courtroom.

299 paragraph (1) of the Election Law that reads, “The President and Vice President have the right to conduct campaign.”

The Petitioner argued that the norm is in violation of Article 6A paragraph (1) and Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. He said the president and vice president could campaign without taking leave of absence. He claimed national media do not provide any information or announcement on the president and vice president’s leave during campaign. Thus, the president/vice president receive state facilities while campaigning for their next election. Therefore, the Petitioner said, the president/vice president should announce their leave during campaign for the sake of public information transparency.

“Therefore, the Petitioner appeals to the Court to declare Article 299 paragraph (1) of Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections in violation of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and not legally binding if not interpreted as ‘The President and Vice President have the right to conduct campaign with a leave of absence that is announced in public on national television,’” the Petitioner said before Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh (panel chair), Ridwan Mansyur, and Arsul Sani.

Justices’ Advice

Justice Ridwan Mansyur said the Petitioner could elaborate his legal standing since similar petitions have been ruled by the Court in Decision No. 006/PUU-III/2005 and No. 11/PUU-V/2011. “So, the Petitioner could develop an analysis on his legal standing and the mechanism of leave for campaign, which [he believes could] affect voters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Justice Arsul Sani said that the Petitioner should study good judicial review petitions to refer to in revising his. Next, Justice Foekh advised the Petitioner to provide a sound argument to counter previous rulings. He also recommended the Petitioner to make a comparison with a similar policy in other counties. At the end of the hearing, he announced that the Petitioner should submit the revised petition by Monday, April 1, 2024 at 09:00 WIB to the Registrar’s Office.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Fauzan 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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