Chief Justice Suhartoyo chairing a ruling hearing for the judicial review of the provision on the parliamentary threshold, Tuesday (7/30/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a ruling hearing on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 to dismiss case No. 57/PUU-XXII/2024 since the Petitioner had not attended the preliminary hearing despite having been properly summonsed.

“[The Court] stipulates, declares the Petitioner’s petition dismissed,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo alongside the other eight constitutional justices in the plenary courtroom.

He explained that the Court had carried out a preliminary hearing on July 9 to examine the petition. Before the hearing, it had received a request letter dated May 15, in which the Petitioner requested that the petition be withdrawn.

To get confirmation of the request for petition withdrawal, the Court had summonsed the Petitioner officially and properly through a letter of the chief registrar on June 28. A day before the hearing, the Court’s summons staff had asked the Petitioner to confirm his attendance through a WhatsApp text. Despite this, the Petitioner failed to appear at the hearing.

At a justice deliberation meeting on July 10, the constitutional justices concluded that the Petitioner’s absence at the preliminary hearing indicated his unseriousness in filing the petition. As per Article 41 paragraph (4) of the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021 on the procedural law for judicial review, the Court will declare the petition dismissed in the event that the petitioners and/or their legal counsels are absent at the preliminary hearing without any legitimate reason despite an official and proper summons.

Also read: PPP Member Challenging Parliamentary Threshold Absent from Preliminary Hearing

On Tuesday, July 9, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra as panel chairman argued that the Petitioner of case No. 57/PUU-XXII/2024 was not serious in filing the petition since he did not attend the preliminary hearing. The Petitioner is a United Development Party (PPP) member named Pasai. He challenged the material of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) on the parliamentary threshold.

“The Registrar’s Office reported that they have called and contacted [the Petitioner] several times and the last time he [did not respond]. This means that this petition is not serious, the Petitioner is not serious, and it will be discussed at the justice deliberation meeting,” Justice Saldi said alongside Constitutional Justices M. Guntur Hamzah and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh in the plenary courtroom. The deputy chief justice then adjourned the session with the other justices’ agreement.

In the petition, the Petitioner argued that the provision on parliamentary threshold in the Election Law is unconstitutional. It is regulated in Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, which reads, “A political party contesting in a legislative election must reach the electoral threshold, which is 4% (four percent) of the national number of valid votes, in order to be included in the seat allocation for DPR members.”

The Petitioner revealed that he had suffered constitutional impairment due to the 4-percent parliamentary threshold as votes for him became in vain when PPP’s national valid votes from 84 electoral districts (dapil) in the 2024 DPR (House of Representatives) election only reached 5,878,777 or 3.87%. Thus, Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law has denied the Petitioner’s right as a voter in the 2024 DPR election.

He explained that Article 414 paragraph (1) of the Election Law is contrary to Article 28I paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution because it disregards the right to vote, so his vote was forfeited or has no meaning in the election. Votes were lost and wasted because the seat could not be transferred to another party.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested that Article 414 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 and Article 427D of Law No. 2 of 2018 are unconstitutional and not legally binding since the 2024 DPR election.

Author            : Mimi Kartika
Editor             : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina
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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