Chief Justice Suhartoyo chairing the plenary session and opening of the legal year of 2025 alongside Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and the other justices, Thursday (1/2/2025). Photo by MKRI.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) released its Annual Report of 2024 “The Mandate to Safeguard the People’s Votes” at a special plenary session and the opening of the legal year of 2025 on Thursday, January 2, 2025 at the plenary courtroom. Chief Justice Suhartoyo delivered a speech before all guests both onsite and online, alongside the other eight Constitutional Justices. 

Suhartoyo said that the Constitutional Court Justices from time to time, are faced with challenges in their respective eras. Including in 2024 which is commonly called a political year, because the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections, as well as the General Elections for Members of DPR, DPD, and DPRD, and the simultaneous Regional Head Elections had been held.

"In exercising all its authorities past and present, the Constitutional Court prioritizes the values ​​of justice, certainty, legal benefits, and consistently maintains the independence of the judicial power," said Suhartoyo ih his report.

Suhartoyo also quoted Montesquieu who stated that judicial independence must be real, not just apparent. Independence is the protector of the constitution and the constitutional rights of citizens. By maintaining independence and impartiality will eventually lead to increased public trust in a judicial institution such as the Constitutional Court. That is the challenge of current justices. 

The Court, said Suhartoyo, is trying its best to demonstrate its commitment to building public trust. One way is by opening access as widely as possible for justice seekers at the Constitutional Court. "We also continue to build institutional capacity and human resources to foster quality and fair decisions," said Suhartoyo.

Furthermore, Suhartoyo explained, the Court has registered 4,128 cases since it was established in 2003 until December 31, 2024. Of the 4,046 cases that have been decided, 1,897 decisions are cases of judicial review, 1,136 decisions are cases of disputes over the results of regional head elections, 984 decisions are cases of disputes over the results of presidential/vice presidential and legislative elections, and 29 decisions are cases of disputes over the Authority of State Institutions.

Of the 4,046 decisions, 509 decisions were granted, 1,725 ​​decisions were rejected, 1,396 decisions were declared unacceptable, 283 cases were withdrawn by the Petitioners, 94 cases were declared dropped, and 39 cases were declared unauthorized.

As for the judicial review cases, 1,897 have been resolved, with details of 1,635 decisions and 262 Stipulations. The details of the 1,635 decisions are 327 decisions granted, 736 decisions rejected, and 572 decisions unacceptable. Meanwhile, 262 Stipulations consisting of 213 cases were withdrawn by the Petitioners, 33 cases were declared dropped, 16 cases were declared unauthorized.

Meanwhile, in 2024, the Court handled 240 cases of judicial review of laws and also cases of Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Results Disputes, and General Election Results for Members of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD. 

Suhartoyo said, of the 240 cases, 158 cases have been decided. Consisting of 49 cases registered in 2023, and 109 cases registered in 2024. "The number of judicial review decisions in 2024 was the highest in a year compared to previous years," said Suhartoyo.

In the judicial review cases, there were several decisions that caught the public's attention and affected the state system. One of them was the judicial review of the law on regional elections, where the Constitutional Court stated that the threshold for regional head candidate requirements had dropped to 6.5 percent.

Then in the resolution of the 2024 general election results dispute (PHPU), the Court handled 308 cases, consisting of two PHPU cases for the President and Vice President, 294 PHPU cases for DPR and DPRD members, and 12 PHPU cases for DPD members. Of the 308 decisions, 45 cases were granted, 64 cases were rejected, 149 cases were declared unacceptable, 15 cases were withdrawn by the Petitioners, 20 cases were declared dropped, and 15 cases were not within the authority of the Constitutional Court.

Of the 45 PHPU cases of Legislative Members that were granted, the verdicts consisted of 21 cases ordering a recount of the ballots, 20 cases ordering a revote, three cases ordering a comparison of data, and one case ordering the disqualification of legislative candidates and a revote (PSU).

A number of awards were also given to the Court during 2024. Some of them include the WTP (unqualified) opinion from the Audit Board (BPK) for its financial reports 18 times consecutively,  and first place in the 2024 Reksa Bandha Award from the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu).

Handling of Regional Election Disputes

At the end of his speech, Suhartoyo said that currently the Court is handling of regional head election dispute cases (PHPU Kada). Starting from January 8, 2025, the Court started to examine, hear, and decide on PHPU Kada cases.

As per the latest data, there are a total of 314 petitions in which 23 on Governor election results, 242 on Regent election results, and 49 on Mayor election results.

"We again ask for the prayers and support of all those present and the wider community, hopefully the Constitutional Court will be able to carry out its authority as well as possible, improve the quality of decisions, build partnerships more effectively in accordance with their respective roles, functions, and corridors. With no intervention, able to answer and meet public expectations," said Suhartoyo.

Present at the special plenary session were a number of invited guests. Some of them are the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Institutions Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Minister of Law (Menkum) Supratman Andi Agtas, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (MA) Sunarto, and Deputy Speaker of the House Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal.

 

Author         : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor          : N. Rosi
Translator    : SO (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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