Call The Bawaslu Field, The Constitutional Court Admits That It Has No Authority To Court TSM Violations

The atmosphere of the 2024 Election Dispute session at the Constitutional Court, Jakarta 22 April 2024 (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - The panel of judges of the Constitutional Court (MK) confirmed that it was not authorized to try cases of election violations that were carried out structured, systematic, and massive (TSM). Constitutional Court Judge Ridwan Mansyur emphasized that the handling of election violations that allegedly occurred TSM was the domain of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). "Regarding the settlement of election administration violations that occur TSM-based on procedures or mechanisms related to the administration of the election, every stage of holding elections is the authority of the Bawaslu," said Ridwan when reading the decision on the 2024 presidential election dispute, Tuesday, April 22. Ridwan admitted that the Constitutional Court has the authority to try violations related to the election process. However, he emphasized that the Court did not rule out all dispute resolution processes owned by other institutions outside the Court, as stipulated in the Election Law. "In this context, the Court is not in a position to provide an assessment of the settlement process that has been carried out by Bawaslu, but to ensure that Bawaslu has carried out its authority appropriately in accordance with the principles and laws of the election in force," he explained. On that occasion, Ridwan said that the dispute resolution process carried out by Bawaslu became a surveillance database as well as a track record for the votes acquired by each candidate pair which at any time could be reopened to serve as a reference in the trial at the Constitutional Court.

So, if Bawaslu does not find any violations of the TSM election in the 2024 presidential election, it can be said that the alleged violation is considered to have never existed, unless it can be proven otherwise in court.