Justice Anwar Usman giving advice during the preliminary hearing of Case No. 172/PUU-XXII/2024 on the campaign for the incumbent President and/or Vice President led by Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh. Photo by MKRI/Fauzan.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court held a material judicial review hearing of Article 281 paragraph (1) and Article 299 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Election (General Election Law), on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the Plenary Courtroom. Lintang Mendung Kembang Jagad filed the petition of Case No. 172/PUU-XXII/2024.

Article 281 paragraph (1) of the General Election Law reads, “Election campaigns involving the President, Vice President, Ministers, Governors, Deputy Governors, Regents, Deputy Regents, Mayors, and Deputy Mayors must fulfill as required: 1. Do not use any facility in their respective positions, except for the security facilities for the state officials as regulated in laws and regulations, 2. Undertake leave without pay.”

Article 299 paragraph (1) of the General Election Law reads, “The President and Vice President have rights to campaign.”

Attending the hearing online, the petitioner stated that the provisions of Article 281 paragraph (1) and Article 299 paragraph (1) of the General Election Law have causal relations (causal verband) that contradict its constitutional rights, as stipulated in Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. This article provides rights to the just legal acknowledgment, guarantee, protection, and certainty, as well as equal treatment before the law. The causal verband on the constitutional losses by the campaign practiced by the president and/or vice president will highly influence the petitioner’s rights for just legal certainty and equal treatment before the law if the president and/or vice president give their support to one of the presidential and/or vice presidential candidates. Such action may inflict harm to the petitioner for the absence of similar support from the president and/or vice president to the opposing candidate supported by the petitioner during the presidential contestation.

“With the support and high electability, [it] may influence the election result drastically,” Lintang said during the hearing led by Justice Daniel Pancastaki P. Foekh.

The Petitioner considered that despite the President and/or Vice President being given the right to campaign, it should be interpreted that the President and/or Vice President hold the status as incumbents and campaign on behalf of themselves or part of them.

“The Petitioner considers that conceptually, the president and/or vice president may strip or separate from their position as persona through this process. However, factually, those are hardly separated because they are influenced by the electability of the president and/or vice president as the head of state and government and the president and/or vice president as individuals inherently during their terms of office,” Lintang explained.

Therefore, the Petitioner, in her petitum, requests the Court to grant the petition in its entirety and declare the substance of Article 281 paragraph (1) and Article 299 paragraph (1) of the General Election Law unconstitutional, as long as it is not interpreted as the authority of the President and Vice President during the Presidential campaign for themselves or the second term.

Justices Advice

Responding to the petitioner’s petition, Justice Arsul Sani asked the Petitioner to peruse Constitutional Court Regulation No. 2 of 2021 on the Judicial Review Procedure. “Because it regulates, among others, the petition structure,” Justice Arsul said.

In addition, Justice Arsul also requested the Petitioner to elaborate on the constitutional losses she experienced. “It needs further elaboration. How you do that, you can see, as the chair of the panel said, that Article 281 paragraph (1) and Article 299 paragraph (1) have been submitted for review several times. There, you can see the formulation example of the constitutional losses of the petitioners,” Justice Arsul explained.

The Panel of Justices gave the Petitioner a chance to revise the petition. The revision should be submitted to the court in hard copy and soft copy by Monday, December 30, 2024, at the latest.

Author: Utami Argawati

Editor: N Rosi.

PR: Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario

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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