Jakarta,
Jan 25 (Antara) - The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled recently that
legislative and presidential elections should be held concurrently in
2019 because certain articles in the election law are in violation of
the Constitution.
However, the MK ruling could cause a legitimacy problem for the
legislative election and presidential elections on April 9 and July 9
this year, because they are still based on the articles said to be in
violation of the Constitution.
Therefore, constitutional expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra has questioned the MK's verdict.
"I
am questioning whether the MK judges really understand the
Constitution," Yusril asked, in a text message to Antara over the
weekend.
He said that the MK's decision to rule on simultaneous legislative and presidential elections in 2019 was a blunder.
The
Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a judicial review,
requesting that the legislative election and presidential election be
held concurrently.
Led by political scientist Effendi Ghazali, the Civil Society Coalition
for Elections filed the request to challenge Law No. 42 of 2008, which
stipulated that the two elections are held at least three months apart.
Yusril said the constitutional judges, who accepted the request of the
petitioners, on the one hand, opined that a number of articles of Law
No. 42/2008 were against the Constitution. Thus, the articles had no
legal binding.
But on the other hand, the judges ruled that concurrent elections
should be held in 2019. This rule does not come into effect for this
year's legislative election on April 9 and the presidential election on
July 9.
"The MK verdict should automatically become effective as of its announcement at an open court session," Yusril argued.
Since
the MK decision is not effective this year, but for the 2019 elections,
Yuril questions the legitimacy of the legislative election and the
presidential election in April and July 2014.
He
said that the MK knew that organizing an election based on
unconstitutional articles of a law would also produce unconstitutional
results.
"The
consequence would be that legislators, the president and vice
president, elected through the 2014 general elections, will also be
unconstitutional," he stressed.
He
criticized the MK, which he saw was trying to cover up the
unconstitutional aspects of its verdict, by referring to previous MK's
decisions.
He
noted that the MK, in its legal considerations, mentioned that the
legislative and presidential elections were legitimate, even if they are
held based on a law with articles said to be in violation the
Constitution.
Thus,
it is seen that the MK decision has weaknesses. Political observer
Maswadi Rauf of the University of Indonesia (UI) said the MK's decision
on concurrent legislative and presidential elections had many
weaknesses,
"The MK decision will not improve our democracy,
because a simultaneous legislative and presidential election will cause
troubles," he said.
He explained that in 2019, tension and chaos could emerge as a result
of a simultaneous election. This system will confuse the electors,
seeking to vote for the best legislative presidential candidates.
"There will be many presidential candidates and legislative candidates.
This will cause confusion to people about who they should vote for," he
said.
The
other negative impact is that figures who have the ambition to become
presidents must be inspired to set up political parties. This will pose
difficulties for Indonesia to form a small number of political parties.
This
system will push the emergence of many presidential candidates while,
in fact, a presidential candidate must be a qualified and selected
person.
"It does not mean that the more candidates means the more democratic
the country will be. I do not agree with those who say that
opportunities should be opened as wide as possible for them. Not all
have the qualifications to become candidates. Candidates must really be
selected persons and should be chosen by political parties," he said.
Syarifuddin Sudding, a politician from the Hunura (People's Conscience)
Party, has stated that the recent Constitutional Court ruling on
simultaneous elections in 2019 may create problems in this year's
elections.
"Parties that lose the elections this year and are not satisfied with
the results of the legislative and presidential elections, may question
the legitimacy of the elections," he pointed out, when asked to comment
on the ruling on Friday.
However, The Forum for People's Care for Independent Parliament
(Formappi) said the Constitutional Court's ruling on simultaneous
election in 2019 was correct, as it provided an answer to the public¿s
concerns.
"The MK ruling is an answer to the public's anxiety and restlessness,
because there is a suspicion that behind the judicial review are
political interests of people who want to become presidents," Formamppi
Coordinator Sebastian said.
According to Sebastian, the MK verdict may have disadvantages for those
who want to nominate themselves as presidential candidates. They hope
the MK rule would also eliminate the presidential threshold requirement.
The current stipulations require a political party to win at least 25
percent of the votes in a legislative election, or 20 percent of the
seats in the parliament, before they could nominate a presidential
candidate.
He
said that the MK¿s step to set the effectiveness of its verdict on
simultaneous elections in 2019 was also correct, because it would not
disturb the preparations that had been made for the election this year.
"So, the concern that the decision could disturb the election preparations this year is therefore resolved," he said.
The concurrent election that will be held in 2019 is also correct in
that the government would have enough time to prepare the required
regulations, Sebatian said.
The same agreement with the verdict was also expressed by Secretary
General of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Mahfudz Siddiq.
He
said that the democratic system in Indonesia can be made healthy if the
Constitutional Court (MK) accepted a judicial review request.
"If
the judicial review is accepted by the MK, it will make the democratic
system in the country healthier, as it will help to resolve the
political coalition problems," Mahfudz said prior to the MK¿s decision.
He pointed out that if the judicial review was approved, it will
reinforce the government's presidential system and will enable political
parties to nominate the names for their respective presidential and
vice presidential candidates much earlier.
After all, former MK chairman Mahfudz MD said the MK had four times
affirmed that the regulation on the presidential threshold and the
simultaneous election is an open legal policy. It is regulated by law,
so it is legitimate," Mahfud MD stated.
Mahfud explained that whatever the MK decided on the judicial review, constituted a binding legal decision.***1***
(T.A014/INE)
(EDITED BY INE)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 25-01-2014 21:11:0 |
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