Today The 2024 Pilkada Dispute At The Constitutional Court Continues, Anwar Usman Returns To Trial

JAKARTA The trial process for regional head election disputes (Pilkada) in 2024 continues again at the Constitutional Court (MK), Monday, January 13, with a complete formation of judges. Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, who was previously absent due to treatment due to falling, has returned to trial.

Anwar was seen present at the preliminary examination hearing at panel 3, which took place at Building I MK, Jakarta. This panel is chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Enny Nurbaningsih and Anwar Usman.

Today, panel 3 handles disputes over the election results for the governor of Central Sulawesi as well as a number of cases from other regencies/cities such as Banggai Islands, Buol, Donggala, Morowali, and Palu City.

The 2024 Pilkada dispute trial at the Constitutional Court was divided into three panels:

Panel 1: Led by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo, accompanied by M. Guntur Hamzah and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh. This panel heard disputes over the election results of the governors of North Sulawesi and North Sumatra, as well as cases from districts/cities such as South Barito, Talaud Islands, East Kotawaringin, and Labuhanbatu.

Panel 2: Led by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Saldi Isra, accompanied by Arsul Sani and Ridwan Mansyur. This panel handles disputes from Banggai Regency, Central Halmahera, Merangin, Raja Ampat, Toba, and Dumai City.

Panel 3: In addition to examining the case of the governor of Central Sulawesi, this panel also heard disputes from Buru, North Morowali, Poso, and Eastern Seram Regencies.

The preliminary examination hearing has been in progress since Wednesday (8/1) and is scheduled for January 16, 2024. This agenda will be followed by a trial to hear the response of the General Elections Commission (KPU) as the respondent, information from related parties, and information from the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) on January 17 to February 4, 2025.

In the Constitutional Court Regulation Number 14 of 2024, each panel must consist of three constitutional judges. At the first trial, Anwar Usman's absence caused the schedule of panel 3 to be rearranged by borrowing judges from other panels.

The panel must still be filled with three judges. If one of them is not present, then the judge from another panel will temporarily replace him, "explained Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih, who is also the spokesperson for the Constitutional Court.

To date, the Constitutional Court has recorded 310 cases of dispute over the results of the 2024 Pilkada, consisting of 23 disputes over the results of the governor election, 238 disputes over the results of the regent's election, and 49 disputes over the results of the mayor's election.

The Constitutional Court has 45 working days to resolve all registered cases. This process is one of the important stages in ensuring the validity of the results of the 2024 Pilkada in accordance with the principles of democracy and law.