The Petitioners of the Pilkada Law judicial review delivering their withdrawal at a confirmation hearing on the petition’s revocation, Wednesday (11/5/2025). Photo by MKRI/IlhamWM.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Wianda Julita Maharani and Adam Imam Hamdana, students of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Islamic State University, withdrew their judicial review petition of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (Regional Election Law/Pilkada Law), registered as Case No. 88/PUU-XXIII/2025. Their withdrawal was confirmed before the Constitutional Court (MK) at a hearing on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, convened specifically to verify the revocation.

The panel chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat and assisted by Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Ridwan Mansyur, confirmed the authenticity of the Petitioners’ letter of withdrawal directly.

“You submitted a letter stating that this petition is withdrawn, correct? So we, the panel, only need to verify that the letter was indeed signed by the Petitioners themselves,” said Arief. “Yes, Your Honor,” Adam and Wianda responded in the panel courtroom.

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This case had undergone two hearings, the preliminary examination on June 4, 2025, and the petition revision hearing on June 20, 2025. The Petitioners initially raised concerns that the recurring phenomenon of legislators resigning mid-term to contest regional elections poses risks to Indonesia’s democratic system.

They argued that the article in question produces both actual and potential constitutional harms. As voters, they contended, there is no guarantee that the mandate they entrusted to elected legislators would be fulfilled if legislators resign soon after inauguration to pursue pilkada candidacy or to run in regions holding repeat elections (PSU).

The Petitioners emphasized that such a pattern constitutes a disregard for the people’s mandate. Accordingly, they asserted that the provision under review is inconsistent with the 1945 Constitution.

They further argued that a firm limitation should be imposed, for example, members of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD for the 2024–2029 term should not be permitted to contest regional elections for the 2024–2029 term, as both offices overlap in duration.

Without clear restrictions, they believed the provision could dilute, even distort, the principle of popular sovereignty. They cautioned that the legislative term might only have been carried out for a very short period, making it impossible to say that representatives had fulfilled the mandate of the electorate.

The Petitioners also warned that leaving the provision unchanged could enable political parties to sidestep Constitutional Court Decision No. 176/PUU-XXII/2024, which requires parties to establish clear frameworks for party cadre development, including identifying cadres for legislative elections and those for pilkada. Without restrictions, parties could still nominate recently elected legislators for pilkada based on a legal loophole.

Thus, they concluded that the Court must close these gaps to safeguard democratic principles.

In their petitum, the Petitioners requested the Court to declare the phrase “submit a written resignation as a member of the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council, and the Regional Legislative Council as of the date of nomination as a candidate pair” in Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of the Pilkada Law unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as it is not interpreted to mean that such resignation is required only when the individual is not concurrently serving a legislative term identical to the pilkada term, but may run in the subsequent pilkada period after submitting a written resignation.

For reference, Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of the Pilkada Law provides:
“Candidates for governor and deputy governor, regent and deputy regent, as well as mayor and deputy mayor as referred to in paragraph (1) must meet the following requirements: a…; b…; …; r…; s. submit a written resignation as a member of the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council, and the Regional Legislative Council as of the date of nomination as a candidate pair; t…; u….”
According to the Petitioners, this article contradicts Article 1 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution.

Author: Mimi Kartika
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Fauzan Febriyan

Translator: Yuanna Sisilia

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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