A Petition Against The Postponement Of The 2024 Election Appears, Already Signed By Thousands Of Netizens

JAKARTA - An online petition against the postponement of the 2024 General Election has appeared. The petition uploaded on the change.org page has at least been signed by 1,150 netizens this morning, Friday, March 4.

This petition was initiated by several organizations, namely the Democracy and Electoral Empowerment Partnership (DEEP), the Indonesian Democracy Network (JADI), the Legislative Monitoring Committee (Kopel), the Democratic Constitution (Kode) Initiative, Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (NETGRIT), the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), and the Center for Constitutional Studies (Pusako) Faculty of Law, Andalas University.

This petition comes after several political parties voiced their desire for the 2024 election to be postponed and President Joko Widodo to serve more than two terms or 10 years.

One of the initiators of the petition from DEEP, Neni Nur Hayati, said that the political elite's desire for the election to be postponed was against the constitutional mandate.

This is because Article 7 and 22 paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ensure that the president and vice president hold office for five years and thereafter can be re-elected in the same position, only for one term, through general elections held in full and fair. once every five years.

"Delaying the 2024 election means violating the highest law of the Republic of Indonesia", said Neni in her statement, Friday, March 4.

Neni continued, delaying the 2024 election and extending the presidential term also made Indonesia violate the principle of presidential government. The president as head of government has a fixed term of office and is limited by direct elections by the people regularly.

"It is important for us as citizens to reject the postponement of the 2024 election and the extension of the presidential term. In the name of a state of law, democratic politics, and economic empowerment, reject the postponement of the 2024 election", she said.

For information, there have been three political parties that have voiced their desire to postpone the election, namely PKB, Golkar, and PAN.

PKB argued that the extension of President Jokowi's term of office was carried out to improve economic conditions in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Golkar claims that the proposal to postpone the election was absorbed from the aspirations of the people. Meanwhile, PAN wants the election to be postponed due to the pandemic situation, as well as the economy and development in the Jokowi era which are considered successful.