The preliminary hearing for the material judicial review of the Regional Election Law for case No. 91/PUU-XXIII/2025, Wednesday (6/18/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W.M.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing for case No. 91/PUU-XXIII/2025 took place on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. The case is the material judicial review of Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Stipulation of the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2014 on the on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors into Law (Pilkada Law).

The petition was filed by chairperson of the South Kalimantan Province’s representative council of the Indonesian Reform Monitoring Institute (DPD LPRI) Syarifah Hayana. She challenges Article 128 letter k of the Pilkada Law, which stipulates that election monitoring organizations are prohibited from “carrying out activities other than those related to election monitoring.” The Petitioner argues that this provision may lead to multiple interpretations and has been misused, ultimately leading to her involvement in a criminal election case.

The Petitioner’s legal counsel Denny Indrayana that the Petitioner had been named a suspect by the Banjarbaru City Police in connection with an alleged election crime under Article 128 letter k in conjunction with Article 187D of the Pilkada Law. “The case was recently decided by the Banjarbaru District Court, where the Petitioner was sentenced to one year of imprisonment with a fine of six million rupiah and a probationary period of two years. We have now submitted copies of the decision as evidence,” Denny said before Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, who presided over the hearing alongside Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih.

Denny further explained that the South Kalimantan LPRI had been accredited by the South Kalimantan Provincial Elections Commission (KPU) to monitor the revote for the Banjarbaru mayoral election. To perform its duties, LPRI deployed personnel to five districts to collect vote count results from each polling station (TPS) based on C forms, as part of its accountability report to the KPU.

However, during the vote counting process, one LPRI volunteer unofficially brought a journalist from the Newsway media outlet to the location. The subsequent news report published by the outlet triggered summonses for the Petitioner and several LPRI regional leaders by the Banjarbaru City Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), the South Kalimantan KPU, and the Banjarbaru City Police. This matter proceeded to trial, eventually resulting in the revocation of LPRI’s accreditation by the South Kalimantan KPU through Decree No. 74 of 2025, issued just days before the preliminary hearing for this case.

In her petition, the Petitioner also requests that the Court adjudicate the case without seeking statements from the president or the DPR (House of Representatives), referring to the precedent set by Constitutional Court Decision No. 102/PUU-VII/2009, in which limited time was considered a factor of justice.

Responding to the petition, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih emphasized the need for clarification regarding the Petitioner’s profile. “It is insufficient to list the Petitioner merely as an individual citizen, considering that this case involves the authority of an election monitoring organization. It would be more appropriate to identify the Petitioner as the chair of DPD LPRI without including any personal data such as a resident identity number (NIK) or place and date of birth, as that constitutes confidential information,” she explained.

At the end of the session, the panel announced that the Petitioner would have 14 days to revise the petition, which must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by Tuesday, July 1, 2025 at 12:00 WIB.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Andhini S.F.
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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