Petitioner's Legal counsel, Andri Darmawan (right), listening to the Verdict on the judicial review of Law No. 3 of 2024 on Villages, Friday (01/03), in the Courtroom.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) partially granted the petition for judicial review of Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages (Village Law) as amended by Law No. 3 of 2024 on Friday, January 3, 2025, in the Plenary Courtroom. In Decision No. 92/PUU-XXII/2024, the Court stated that Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages (State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia No. 77 of 2024, Supplement to State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia No. 6914) violates the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and has no conditional binding legal power as long as it is not interpreted as “does not apply to villages that have conducted village head elections based on Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages.”

Legal Considerations

Justice Enny Nurbaningsih explained that direct village elections have been consistently regulated from Law No. 5 of 1979 to Law No. 6 of 2014. This mechanism reflects the people's sovereignty at the village level and is one manifestation of the principles of democracy and village autonomy. In this system, eligible villagers can directly express their political rights to vote and be elected.

Justice Enny also highlighted the execution of simultaneous village head elections in 96 villages in South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2023, following the provisions of Law No. 6 of 2014. This election was also performed per the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs through a letter dated January 14, 2023.

Regarding elected village head candidates, Justice Enny referred to Article 38 paragraph (1) of Law No. 6 of 2014, which states that “the Elected village head candidates are inaugurated by the Regent/Mayor or an appointed official no later than 30 days after the issuance of the Regent/Mayor's decision.”

“Therefore, Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 cannot be applied to village head candidates who have been elected based on Law No. 6 of 2014 because the election was already legal and in accordance with the rules that apply at that time,” Justice Enny said, reading out the legal considerations.

Legal Protection for Elected Head Village Candidates

The Court emphasized that elected village head candidates must receive legal protection and fair legal certainty. Therefore, the transitional norm in Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 should not be used to delay, let alone cancel, the inauguration of village head candidates elected through a legal mechanism.

The Court also stated that the norm did not provide fair legal certainty as guaranteed by Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. In its verdict, the Court ruled that the norm of Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 conditionally violated the 1945 Constitution if it is not interpreted as specified in the verdict.

Thus, based on the entire description of the legal considerations above, it has been found that the norms of Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 do not provide legal protection and fair legal certainty for candidates for village heads who were elected when Law No. 6 of 2014 was still in effect, as guaranteed in Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and which is also argued by the Petitioners. However, because the ruling decided by the Court is not the same as the Petitioners‘ Petition, the Petitioners’ arguments are legally grounded in part.

Also read:

House, Govt Ask Hearing on Village Law Be Postponed
Inauguration Delayed, 14 Elected Village Chiefs Challenge Village Law
Elected Village Heads of South Konawe Revise Petition of Village Law Review
Govt: Term Extention of Village Heads In Line with Constitutionalism
South Konawe Regent Regrets the Delay in Inaugurating 96 Elected Village Heads
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 requested 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.” The wished Article 118 letter e 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      : Dinita Oktavia/Yuniar Widiastuti/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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