UNS Students Ask The Constitutional Court To Arrange The Age Requirements For Candidates For Regional Heads Counting During The Inauguration

JAKARTA - Student of the Faculty of Law, Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta, Central Java, Arkaan Wahyu Re A asked the Constitutional Court (MK) to regulate the age requirements for regional head candidates (cakada) as of the inauguration of candidate pairs.

The request is a petitum for improvement submitted by Arkaan in the judicial review case of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter e of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (UU Pilkada). This case is registered with number 89/PUU-XXII/2024.

"The Petitioner has corrected this request based on the advice of the panel of judges at the preliminary hearing. Then, changing the 30-year-old petitum of the governor candidate to [calculated] at the time of the previous inauguration [requested] at the time of the determination of the candidate," Arkaan said in a trial to improve the application. reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 12.

At the preliminary hearing, Arkaan submitted a petitum which basically wanted the Constitutional Court to regulate the requirements for the cakada age to be calculated during the determination of the candidate pair. Then, at this trial, he changed the petitum to be calculated during the inauguration of the candidate pair.

Arkaan, who attended the online trial, said that this change in petitum provided many alternatives to the Constitutional Court to choose the meaning of the requirements for the life of the cadre. This is considering that a number of judicial review cases of the same article are currently rolling in the Constitutional Court.

"The change in petitum provides many alternatives to the Constitutional Court to choose one of the four choices of the meaning of 30 years old [calon governor/deputy governor], namely during registration, at the time of determination, during voting, and at the inauguration," he said.

Despite changing the petitum to be calculated when the inauguration of the candidate pair, Arkaan admitted that he was more inclined so that the article in question was interpreted as being calculated when determining the candidate pair.

"Although the applicant changed the petitum, it was not an obstacle for the Constitutional Court judge to grant a judicial review of the 30-year-old application [the governor/deputy governor's candidate] during the determination, because there were other parties who submitted a judicial review with a 30-year-old petitum at the time of the determination of the governor candidate," he said.

Arkaan's updated petition is exactly the same as the Supreme Court Decision (MA) Number 23 P/HUM/2024, in the judicial review case Article 4 paragraph (1) letter d of KPU Regulation (PKPU) Number 9 of 2021, which was submitted by the Garuda Party.

Through this decision, the Supreme Court stated that Article 4 paragraph (1) letter d of PKPU Number 9 of 2021 contradicts the Pilkada Law and does not have binding legal force, so that the minimum age requirement is 30 years for candidates for governor/deputy governor and 25 years for candidates for regent/deputy regent or mayor/deputy mayor is interpreted as having been determined since the inauguration of the elected candidate pair.

Arkaan said that he changed his petitum to anticipate if the Constitutional Court rejected all requests for judicial review of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter e of the Pilkada Law on the grounds that the legal policy was open (open legal policy) which became the authority of the legislators.

"If the Constitutional Court refuses, then the Supreme Court's decision which interprets the 30-year-old governor candidate at the inauguration must be declared flawed and does not apply because the judiciary, namely the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, is not entitled and has no authority to interpret the 30-year-old terms of the governor candidate," he said.

He hopes that if the Constitutional Court ultimately rejects all judicial review options Article 7 paragraph (2) letter e of the Pilkada Law, the constitutional judge is willing to give considerations stating that the Supreme Court Decision Number 23 P/HUM/2024 is flawed and null and null and void by law.

"So that anyone, including Kaesang (Chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party Kaesang Pangarep, ed.), cannot run for governor if they are not 30 years old, the maximum is when the candidate pair is determined," said Arkaan.