The Constitutional Court Was Asked To Reject The Election System Lawsuit

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JAKARTA - Luqman Hakim members reminded the Constitutional Court (MK) to reject the lawsuit for judicial review of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (UU Pemilu) regarding a closed proportional system.

According to Luqman, the Constitutional Court must reject the lawsuit because they are not authorized to test and decide on it.

"The Constitutional Court is not authorized to test and break the electoral system because the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia does not regulate the electoral system. The electoral system is an open legal policy or legal policy that is owned by law-forming institutions, namely the DPR and the president," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, June 3.

According to Luqman, if the Constitutional Court grants the request to change the electoral system to a closed proportional, the Constitutional Court means that it has acted outside its authority and taken over the power of the DPR and the president.

Next, Luqman also said that the Constitutional Court is not authorized to make laws norms because it does not have a constitutional mandate to become an institution that forms the law.

The Constitutional Court, he said, was not authorized to grant a request that had an impact on the formation of a new norm of a law. That is beyond the authority of the Constitutional Court.

"The 1945 NRI UUD has given the DPR power to form a law. The Constitutional Court's authority is to test the law against the Constitution, not to form a law," he stressed.

Previously, the Constitutional Court received a request for judicial review of Article 168 paragraph (2) of the Election Law related to an open proportional system registered with case registration number 114/PUU-XX/2022 on November 14, 2022.

If the judicial review of the Election Law regarding an open proportional system is granted by the Constitutional Court, the 2024 Election system will turn into a closed proportional system. A closed proportional system allows voters to only present the political party logo (parpol) on ballots, not the name of party cadres who take part in the legislative elections.

So far, there are various opinions in assessing which system can be the best system in organizing elections in the country. There are some parties who support the implementation of an open proportional system. There are also those who support a closed proportional system.