Lintang Mendung Kembang Jagad, Petitioner of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Election (General Election law), Monday (30/12) at the Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court held another material judicial review hearing of Article 281 paragraph (1) and Article 299 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Election on Monday, December 30, 2024, at the Courtroom. Case No. 172/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by Lindang Mendung Kembang Jagad.

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.”

The hearing agenda was to examine the petition revision. In the hearing led by Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, the Petitioner who attended online stated that he had withdrawn the petition due to the case being ne bis in idem.

“The reason I withdraw Case No. 172/PUU-XXII/2024 is that previously there was a similar petition [submitted to the Constitutional Court) and if the Petitioner files a similar [petition], it will be ne bis in idem,” Lintang said.

Lintang added that the Petitioner acknowledged that there was not enough concrete evidence against the articles being reviewed. “Lastly, basically, the Petitioner does not have enough time to revise the petition,” he stated.

Also read: The President’s Involvement during the Presidential Campaign Challenged

During the preliminary hearing on Monday, December 16, 2024, 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.

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.

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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