Court Grants Withdrawal of Petition on Regional Representation in Legislative Elections

Chief Justice Suhartoyo delivering a ruling at the plenary courtroom, Tuesday (4/29/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court granted the request for withdrawal of the judicial review petition of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, registered as Case No. 7/PUU-XXIII/2025. The petition had been filed by the Law Student Alliance of Stikubank University, Semarang.

“In essence, the Petitioner confirmed the withdrawal of the petition,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the ruling hearing on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in the plenary courtroom of the Constitutional Court.

“The Court grants the withdrawal of the petition,” he declared.

The petition challenged Article 240 paragraph (1)(c) of the Election Law, which regulates the eligibility requirements for legislative candidates. The Petitioners expressed concerns over the high number of legislative candidates (for the DPR and DPRD) who neither reside in nor have any personal connection with their electoral districts (dapil).

In the preliminary hearing held on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the Petitioners argued that a large number of candidates in the 2024 legislative election did not have ties to their electoral districts, particularly those residing in Greater Jakarta. According to a data journalism report by Harian Kompas, based on profiles listed on infopemilu.kpu.go.id and accessed on November 16, 2023, 5,701 out of 9,917 candidates (57.5 percent) lived outside the districts in which they ran.

Furthermore, 3,605 candidates (36.4 percent) were neither domiciled in nor born in their electoral districts. Meanwhile, 1,294 candidates (13 percent) neither lived in, were born in, nor attended school in the districts they sought to represent—leading the Petitioners to argue these candidates lacked any substantial ties to their constituencies.

The Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 240 paragraph (1)(c) of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as it does not require that "candidates for the DPR, provincial DPRD, and regency/municipal DPRD be Indonesian citizens who have resided in the electoral district in which they run for at least five years before their candidacy, as evidenced by their resident ID (KTP)."

However, before the case could proceed further, the Petitioners decided to withdraw the petition, which the Court officially granted at the recent ruling hearing.

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Court Grants Withdrawal of Petition on Regional Representation in Legislative Elections