MK: Ethical Violation Of KPU Chair Can't Be The Reason To Cancel Prabowo-Gibran's Candidacy

Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) assessed that the decision of the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP) which stated that KPU Chairman Hasyim Asy'ari violated ethics in the process of accepting Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a vice presidential candidate (cawapres) could not be used as a basis for canceling the candidacy of the Prabowo-Gibran pair in the 2024 presidential election.

This was conveyed by Arief Hidayat in reading out public considerations in the presidential election dispute trial at the Constitutional Court, Monday, April 22, 2024.

"Without the Court intending to assess the decision issued by the DKPP, the DKPP decision is the authority of the DKPP to examine alleged ethical violations committed by election organizers," Arief said in the trial.

"The substance of the decision regarding ethical violations cannot necessarily be used as an excuse for the Court to cancel the results of the verification and determination of the candidate pair that has been determined by the respondent (KPU)," he continued.

Deketahui, DKPP memustuskan pelanggaran etik berat terhadap Hasyim Asy'ari karena sebagai pimpinan KPU Republik Indonesiaska tak sigap menyusun draft perubahan PKPU 19/2023 sebagai tindak lanjut Putusan MK Nomor 90/PUU-XXI/2023.

In that decision, DKPP did not question the cancellation of the nomination of the presidential candidate pair and vice presidential candidate number two.

Arief said the Constitutional Court had considered this because no party objected to the nomination of pair number two.

"As for whether or not the determination is legal and the actions of the respondent in carrying out the verification of the candidate pair have been assessed by the Court in legal considerations. Moreover, after the stipulation, none of the candidate pairs objected to the determination of candidate pair number 2, including in this case the applicant," said Arief.

Meanwhile, DKPP gave a strong warning to the KPU for the violation. The sanctions were read out by the Chairman of the DKPP RI Heddy Lugito in the 135-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023, 136-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023, 137-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2024, and 141-PKE-DKPP/XXI/2023.

DKPP stated that the Chairman of the KPU and its six members, namely Yulianto Sudrajat, August Mellaz, Betty Epsilon Idroos, Idham Holik, Muhammad Afifuddin, and Parsadaan Harahap had violated several articles in DKPP Regulation Number 2 of 2027 concerning the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Election Organizers.

Some of the articles that were violated were Article 11 letter a and letter c, Article 15 letter c and Article 19 letter a.