The Petitioners at the second hearing for the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Tuesday (12/31/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the petition revision hearing for the material judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) for case No. 176/PUU-XXII/2024 on Tuesday, December 31, 2024 on site. The case was filed by university students Adam Imam Hamdana, Wianda Julita Maharani, and Adinia Ulva Maharani. They allege that they could potentially be harmed by the lack of legal certainty for voters to ensure that the people’s mandate is implemented by their representatives.

Article 426 paragraph (1) of the Election Law reads, “An elected member of the DPR, DPD, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD shall be replaced if the elected member is afflicted with the following conditions: b. steps down.” At the preliminary hearing, Adam (Petitioner I) said that under the article, there is no restrictive definition on the phrase “steps down,” so stakeholders could exploit it to legitimize any breach of the people’s votes and trust given in the election.

At this hearing, he conveyed several revisions on the format of the petition, such as the subject and page numbering.

“We also deleted the closing section, thus the petition is concluded by the petitum. Secondly, we added the previously left-out authority of the Court relating to Article 24C paragraph (1) [of the Constitution] on page 2 chapter 1 point 2,” Adam said.

On pages 11-16, the Petitioners explained that according to rational reasoning, they have been actually or at least potentially harmed by the a quo article. “We have detailed the constitutional impairment to affirm the Petitioners’ position as first-time voters,” Adam continued.

The Petitioners have also added a subchapter to add more elaboration. In their petitum, they request that the Court declare the phrase “steps down” in Article 426 paragraph (1) letter b of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “steps down openly to constituents for reasons that are accountable to the people’s sovereignty.”

Also read: Petitioners Challenges Election Law for Allowing Legislative Members to Step Down

The Petitioners feel that any elected legislative members who step down shows betrayal and irresponsibility toward the mandate that the people give directly to them, more so when done for glib reasons. They also argue that the a quo article has allowed legislative candidates to test the waters and step down and then join the regional election if they receive sufficient votes in the legislative election. This, they claim, reflects a disregard to the people’s votes, which is the spirit of the Constitutional Court Decision No. 60/PUU-XXII/2024. In addition, in a rule of law where the people have sovereignty, it is important to position public interest as the key, since popular sovereignty views that power comes from the people. So, in carrying out all matters relating to their duties, the holders of power must adhere to the will of the people, which is commonly referred to as democracy.

Adam said that decision is relevant with the phenomena of DPR (House of Representatives), DPD (Regional Representatives Council), and DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) members stepping down, as the lack of clear restriction could potentially lead to barters between the people’s votes and political interests that are not in line with the principle of popular sovereignty. This is certainly contrary to the Constitutional Court Decision No. 40/PUU-VIII/2010, in which the Court held that the most basic principles of democracy are freedom and fairness.

Author            : Utami Argawati/L. A. P.
Editor             : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Fauzan Febriyan
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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