Chief Justice Suhartoyo opening a continued material judicial review hearing of Law No. 3 of 2024 on Village, Thursday (05/12) at the Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court held another material judicial review hearing of Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 6 of 2014 on Village (Village Law) against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at the Plenary Courtroom. Case Number 92/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by 14 elected village heads during the simultaneous village heads election in South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2024.

The enactment of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law extended the terms of office of village heads whose terms ended in February 2024. This caused concrete and actual harm to the Petitioners. Article 118 letter e of the Village Law reads, “Village heads whose term of office ends until February 2024 can be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law”.

The hearing agenda initially included testimony from the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Home Affairs, specifically the Directorate General Village Development Guidance. However, Chief Justice Suhartoyo stated that there was no certainty on the institutions' attendance. Hence, the Court considered the examination for this petition sufficient. The next hearing agenda is the decision pronouncement.

“The Court awaits the conclusion document from the Petitioners and the government until Friday, December 13, 2024,” Chief Justice Suhartoyo stated.

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Hearing of a Case Submitted by 14 Village Head Candidates of South Konawe Postponed

Fourteen elected village head candidates filed Case Number 92/PUU-XXII/2024 during the Simultaneous Village Heads Election in South Konawe on September 24, 2023. The enactment of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law, which extends the village heads’ terms of office for those whose tenure ends in February 2024, caused concrete and actual losses.

Article 118 letter e of the Village Law reads, “The Village Head whose term of office ends until February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law.” The enactment of the article caused the Petitioners to fail to be inaugurated as village heads by the South Konawe regent on April 30, 2024

Out of ninety-six villages conducting Simultaneous elections in South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2023, there were fifty-nine of the newly elected village head candidates, and out of seventy-two incumbents who ran for the election, thirty-five of them were not re-elected including in the Petitioners’ villages where the incumbents were not re-elected.

The Petitioners, as the elected village head candidates during the simultaneous election in the South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2023, were directly elected by the people and had the right to be inaugurated as village heads with eight-year terms of office according to the provision of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law as a form of acknowledgment to the Indonesian citizens’ constitutional rights, namely the authority of the people, rights over acknowledgment, protection, and guarantee of just law, right to work and fair and appropriate treatment at work and rights to equal opportunity in governance as stipulated under the 1945 Constitution.

In their petitum, the Petitioners request that the Court declare Article 118 letter e of the Village Law to be contrary to the 1945 Constitution and to have no binding legal force if it is not interpreted as “The Village Head whose term of office ends until April 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law as long as the village head election has not been held and the village head election results determined.” Thus, the norm of Article 118 letter e should be amended to read, “The Village Head whose term of office ends until April 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law as long as the village head election has not been held and the results of the village head election have not been determined.

Author: Utami Argawati

Editor: N. Rosi.

PR: Fauzan F.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario (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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