MK Rejects Lawsuit For Verification Of Election Contesting Political Parties, PSI Admits Disappointed, Unfair

Screenshot of the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman (ANTARA DOK)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) expressed disappointment after the Panel of Judges of the Constitutional Court (MK) decided to reject the lawsuit of three non-parliamentary political parties regarding the obligation to verify election participants.

In fact, according to PSI DPP Secretary General Dea Tunggaesti, the party's claim is rational and proportional. In the petition, PSI asked that parliamentary parties do not need to be verified, non-parliamentary parties or those without representation in Senayan only need administrative verification, and new parties must have administrative and factual verification.

"The Constitutional Court's decision is clearly disappointing," said Dea Tunggaesti in a written statement quoted by Antara, Jakarta, Thursday, November 25.

According to Dea, it is important to know that there are three members of the panel of judges of the Constitutional Court who submitted different reasons by referring to the dissenting opinion in the Constitutional Court's decision No.55/PUU-XVIII/2020. The dissenting opinion is a sign that the panel of judges does not entirely agree on the decision. There are some who accept the legal logic proposed by the applicant.

If you follow a rational legal logic, he continued, three groups of political parties that are different from each other must of course be subject to proportionally different treatment. Equalizing the same verification treatment certainly raises injustice.

Political parties that have participated in elections have been tested because they have passed as participants and are allowed to participate in general election contestations. Therefore, the implementation of administrative and factual verification becomes irrelevant.

"The position of political parties that have passed administrative and factual verification is certainly different from that of political parties that have never participated in elections," he said.

For political parties that have never participated in an election, he said, of course they need to prove their qualifications, so it is reasonable to check the requirements through administrative and factual verification.

Meanwhile, political parties that have participated in elections have been proven to meet the requirements and qualifications as participants so that administrative verification should be sufficient.

Previously, the Constitutional Court rejected the claims of three non-parliamentary political parties regarding the obligation to verify election participants. The lawsuit was filed by PSI, the Berkarya Party, and the Perindo Party. The Constitutional Court stated that all of the petitioners' requests were groundless according to law. The Court was of the opinion that a similar issue had been tested last year in the decision Number 55/PUU-XVIII/2020.

In the lawsuit, the three parties that filed the lawsuit examined the material of Article 173 paragraph (1) of the Election Law. All three want there to be differences in verification obligations for political parties.