Petitioners Herdi Munte and Missiniaki Tommi at a judicial review hearing of the Regional Election Laws, Wednesday (10/30/2024). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another material judicial review hearing of several articles in the Regional Election Laws for case No. 145/PUU-XXII/2024 in a panel courtroom on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. The petition was filed by Herdi Munte and Missiniaki Tommi (Petitioners I and II).

They stated that they had revised the petition following the panel’s advice at the preliminary hearing. Petitioner I said the format and petition’s subject had been revised and the typos corrected.

“On page one, we corrected several typos. In the subject, we removed the state gazette, but we emphasize it in the petitums,” he explained.

He also added that the touchstones are now two, from the initial one. First, Article 22E paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution, which reads, “General election shall be held in a direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair manner once in five years.” Second, Article 28D paragraph (1) which reads, “Everyone shall be entitled to fair legal recognition, certainty, protection, and assurance and equal treatment before the law.”

“Next, we have also revised the legal standing,” he continued.

Petitioner II hoped the petition could apply in the 2024 regional election. “Maybe there would be a blank vote in the next regional election. However, we believe there is an urgency for it to apply in this [year’s] regional election without hampering the stages. For example, unmarked ballots at the polling stations are considered valid,” he said.

Also read: Blank Vote in Regional Elections Questioned

The Petitioners challenge Article 79 paragraph (1) and Article 85 paragraph (1) of Law No. 1 of 2015, Article 94 of Law No. 8 of 2015, as well as Article 107 paragraph (1) and Article 109 paragraph (1) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the implementation of the regional election law (pilkada). They believe their constitutional rights would be harmed if the blank vote is not validated in the regional election where more than one candidate pairs compete.

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, October 17, Herdi Munte (Petitioner I) stated that it would be unfair to validate a blank vote in regional elections where only a single candidate pair compete, but not when several candidate pairs do.

“Abstaining in the regional election is commonplace. In the Medan election in 2015, 24.9 percent of voters did so. This phenomenon is an impetus for us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Missiniaki Tommi (Petitioner II) said his right to register a “none of the above” vote in the election has been restricted by laws that do not recognized such an option. The Petitioners emphasized that the recognition of the blank vote would fulfill the people’s political right to express their disagreement of existing candidates. Should it win, a runoff would have to take place and the losing candidates should not run again in said election.

Petitums

The Petitioners wish that the Court would grant their petition in its entirety, citing that a constitutional acknowledgement of their disapproval of candidates would be a democratic step in the 2024 simultaneous regional election.

Therefore, in the petitums, they request that the Court declare the following norms unconstitutional and not legally binding: Article 79 paragraph (1) of Law No. 1 of 2015 if not interpreted as “Ballot papers as referred to in Article 78 paragraph (1) letter b contain photographs, names, and serial numbers of candidates and an empty column as the implementation of a blank vote;” Article 85 paragraph (1) of Law No. 1 of 2015 if not interpreted as “Voting for elections may be done by: 1) Marking once on the ballot paper either on the candidate pair or empty column as the implementation of a blank vote; or 2) Voting through electronic voting equipment;” as well as Article 94 of Law No. 8 of 2015 if not interpreted as “A ballot paper for the Election is declared valid if: a. The ballot paper is signed by the Chairman of the KPPS; and b. One mark is given on the serial number, photo, or name of one of the candidate pairs on the ballot paper or on the Empty Column as the implementation of a blank vote.”

The Petitioners also request that the Court declare the following norms of Law No. 10 of 2016 unconstitutional and not legally binding: Article 107 paragraph (1) if not interpreted as “Candidate Pairs for Regent and Vice Regent as well as Candidate Pairs for Mayor and Vice Mayor who obtain the most votes and defeat the vote acquisition of the empty column (blank vote) shall be certified as the Elected Candidate Pairs for Regent and Vice Regent as well as the Elected Candidate Pairs for Mayor and Vice Mayor:” and Article 109 paragraph (1) if not interpreted as “The Candidate Pair for Governor and Vice Governor who receives the most votes and defeats the empty column (blank vote) shall be declared the elected candidate pair for Governor and Vice Governor.”

Author            : Utami Argawati
Editor            : N. Rosi
PR                 : Tiara Agustina
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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