MK Kabulkan Gugatan Emil Dardak Cs, Masa Jabatan Kepala Daerah Pilkada 2018 Full 5 Tahun

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) partially granted the lawsuit by the Deputy Governor of East Java Emil Elestianto Dardak and six other regional heads regarding the judicial review of Article 201 paragraph (5) of Law (UU) Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors.

"Granted the petitioners' petition for part," said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo reading the verdict in the verdict hearing reported by ANTARA, Thursday, December 21.

The Constitutional Court stated Article 201 paragraph (5) of Law Number 10 of 2016 which stipulates that "the governors and deputy governors, regents and deputy regents, as well as mayors and deputy mayors as a result of the 2018 election will serve until 2023" contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

With this decision, the norm of the article in question actually reads Governor and deputy governor, regent and deputy regent, as well as mayor and deputy mayor as a result of elections and inauguration in 2018 in office until 2023; and governor and deputy governor, regent and deputy regent, as well as mayor and deputy mayor as a result of the 2018 election whose inauguration will be held in 2019, holding office for 5 years, starting from the date of inauguration not passing 1 month before holding a national simultaneous vote in 2024'.

The application registered with Case Number 143/PUU-XXI/2023 was submitted by Emil Dardak, Maluku Governor Murad Ismail, Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto, Bogor Deputy Mayor Dedie A. Rachim, Gorontalo Mayor Marten A. Taha, Padang Mayor Hendri Septa, and Tarakan Mayor Khairul.

The petitioners were elected regional heads from the results of the 2018 election and were only inaugurated in 2019. They felt aggrieved and violated their constitutional rights as regional heads because their term of office was cut or not full of 5 years.

In their consideration, the Constitutional Court can see the constitutional losses suffered by the applicants in the form of cutting the term of office for the regional head/deputy regional head who was elected in 2018 but was only inaugurated in 2019 because he was waiting for the end of the previous regional head/deputy regional head term.

According to the court, the provisions of the norms of Article 201 paragraph (5) of Law Number 10 of 2016 turned out to create legal uncertainty, injustice, and provide different treatment before the law as argued by the petitioners.

"Anyway, the petitioners argued according to the law for some," Suhartoyo said reading the conclusion.

On this decision, Constitutional Court Judge Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh expressed a dissenting opinion. According to Daniel, Petitioner I Murad Ismail, Petitioner II Emil Dardak, Petitioner V Marten A. Taha, and Petitioner VII Khairul do not have a legal standing.

"And in the court's decision, the Petitioner I, Petitioner II, Petitioner V, and Petitioner VII should not be accepted," said Daniel, quoted from a copy of the verdict downloaded from the official website of the Indonesian Constitutional Court.