The Relevant Party’s expert Prof. Dr. Yahya Ahmad Zein at a hearing for case No. 226-01-17-24/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on the 2024 legislative election results dispute for North Kalimantan Province, Thursday (5/30/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — Legislative candidates who are former prisoners must be disqualified, said Abhan on behalf of PPP (United Development Party) at a follow-up hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute (PHPU) in the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday, May 30, 2024. The hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Panel 3. The case No. 226-01-17-24/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 petitioned by PPP. This case concerns the Tarakan City DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) election in the electoral district 1, Central Tarakan Subdistrict, Tarakan City, North Kalimantan Province.
The Petitioner’s expert Abhan said that if a candidate who initially qualifies to participate in the election no longer qualifies, a replacement can proposed, as stipulated in Article 426 of the Election Law. “If a candidate initially meets the requirements no longer meet them, based on Article 426, a replacement can be proposed for the elected candidate,” he said.
Abhan asserted if from the beginning the candidate has not met the requirements, then the nomination must be declared null and void, because the nomination decision does not fulfill the provisions of the law. As such, the votes for disqualified candidates cannot be categorized as valid votes, both for them and for their political parties. “A candidate’s invalid votes should not be declared valid for themselves or for their political party,” he explained.
The Petitioner’s witness in Central Tarakan Subdistrict, Kaltim Rahman, said that Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra was not honest about his status as a former prisoner who had not met the requirements to become a DPRD candidate. “He is not honest with the public regarding his previous criminal record,” he said.
Petitum and Posita Align
At the hearing, Golkar (Party of Functional Groups) as the Relevant Party presented Yahya Ahmad Zein as an expert. According to Yahya, the Election Law clearly separates election stages, where administrative violations are resolved by Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) and general election results disputes are resolved by the Constitutional Court. Because of this, the petition’s petitum and posita must align. If the posita questions administrative violations, the petitum must also be consistent. Likewise, if the posita questions election results, the petitum must also does so. Any petitum that is far removed from the posita is contrary to the principle in the substantiering theory, which means that in addition to mentioning the legal event that is the basis of the petition, it must also mention the real events that precede the legal event so that it becomes the cause of the legal event. “The petitum and the posita must align, so as not to contradict the principles in the substantiering theory,” he said.
According to Yahya, Bawaslu’s decision that Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra had committed an administrative election violation and thus was not eligible as a permanent candidate for Tarakan City DPRD in the electoral district of Tarakan 1 in the 2024 election is non-executable. “Bawaslu’s decision for Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra is a non-executable decision,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the KPU’s (General Elections Commission) witness Nasrudin said that the nomination of Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra was in accordance with the mechanism in the laws and regulations. He said that the KPU had based Erick’s nomination on a certificate from the Tarakan City district court that he had never served a criminal sentence. “We based [his nomination] on a certificate from the Tarakan City district court,” he said.
Also read:
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At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner alleged Golkar legislative candidate Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra had committed administrative electoral violations, which was stated in the Tarakan City Bawaslu Decree No. 002/LP/ADM.PL/BWSL/KOTA/24.01/III/2024 dated March 19, 2024. The decree also states that he did not meet the requirements as a permanent candidate member of the Tarakan City DPRD for Tarakan 1 in the 2024 election. The Petitioner stressed that the Respondent (KPU) did not consider and enforce the Bawaslu decree by issuing the Tarakan City KPU Decree No. 87 of 2024.
Based on the arguments presented, the Petitioner requests the Court to grant its petition by annulling the KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024, order to declare that legislative candidate Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra from Central Tarakan Subdistrict I, Tarakan City, ineligible. Therefore, the Respondent must declare Erick’s 2,335 votes invalid. Additionally, the Petitioner requests the Court to order the Respondent to declare the Petitioner the elected legislative candidate from that electoral district with a total of 2,289 votes.
Author : Adam Ilyas
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translator : Jessica Rivena Meilania/Yuniar W.
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.
Thursday, May 30, 2024 | 14:22 WIB 125