Petition No. 48/PUU-XXII/2024 filed by Ahmad Kanedi and seven individuals, where six of the eight petitioners are members of the Regional Representatives Council for 2019-2024, Thursday (7/18/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another material judicial review hearing of Law No. 17 of 2014 on the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and Regional Legislative Council (DPRD), also known as the MD3 Law, as well as Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Thursday, July 18, 2024 in the plenary courtroom. Case No. 48/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by Ahmad Kanedi and seven other individuals. Six of the eight petitioners are DPD RI members for the 2019-2024 term.

At the petition revision hearing, the Petitioner’s legal counsel Makhfud emphasized the reason for the petition, primarily regarding the four DPD members in each province. This is because, based on past cases, the fact that only four DPD members exist in each province had resulted in defeat when conveying ideas on proposed amendments to the 1945 Constitution in 2006/2007.

“Therefore, we refined the petitum so that the Court declares Article 252 paragraph (1) of Law No. 17 of 2014 in violation of Article 28D paragraph (1) and Article 3 of the 1945 Constitution and not legally binding as long as it is not interpreted that the DPD members in each province are determined to be as many as 5 people; and Article 196 of Law 7 of 2017 in violation of Article 28D paragraphs (1) and (3) of the 1945 Constitution as long as it is not interpreted that the number of seats for DPD members in each province is 5 (five),” he said before Deputy Chief Justice of Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat and Anwar Usman.

Also read: Legislative Candidate Challenges Provision Limiting DPD Members to Four Per Province

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, July 4, the Petitioners conveyed their petition of Article 252 paragraph (1) of Law No. 17 of 2014 and Article 196 of Law No. 7 of 2017. compared the seat allocation of DPR members and its regulation in electoral districts following Articles 186 and 187 paragraph (2) of Law No. 7 of 2017 as well as the number of members and seat allocation for DPD in each province as regulated in the two laws petitioned for review. They believe both articles have violated the sense of proportionality and justice for them.

The Petitioners, who placed fifth in their constituencies, will certainly not be elected as DPD members from the provinces as mentioned above in the 2024 election. The disproportionality is that the number of DPR members, which is 575, is not proportional to the number of DPD seats in each province, which is only 152. Meanwhile, according to Article 22C paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, a seat requires no more than one-third and no more than one-third does not mean far below one-third. In other words, any number far below one-third is disproportionate and should be considered unconstitutional. They believe the injustice lies in the determination of the number of DPR seats, where the legislatures determined at least three seats and at most ten seats.

The Petitioners were DPD candidates for the 2024-2029 who placed fifth in their constituencies: Bengkulu, Gorontalo, Aceh, West Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, DKI Jakarta, North Sulawesi, and Riau Province. At fifth place, they will not be named DPD members-elect due to the implementation of the articles being questioned. They also believe there is disproportionate number of DPD and DPR members, with the articles in question being one of the reasons. Therefore, they request that the Court declare Article 252 paragraph (1) of Law No. 17 of 2014 conditionally unconstitutional if not interpreted as “Members of the DPD of each province shall be set at 5 (five) people,” and declare Article 196 of Law No. 7 of 2017 conditionally unconstitutional if not interpreted as “Each province shall receive 5 (five) available seats in an election of members of the DPD.”

Author            : Sri Pujianti
Editor             : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina
Translators     : Putri Ratnasari/Rizky Kurnia Chaesario, 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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