The Constitutional Court Rejects Lawsuit On Money Political Crimes In Election Law

Illustration of the Constitutional Court (MK). (Antanews)

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) has rejected the expansion of the subject of perpetrators of money politics crimes in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (Pemilu).

The MK's rejection was because the absence of restrictions could criminalize everyone and lead to arbitrariness.

"Rejecting the applicants' petition in its entirety," said Chief Justice Suhartoyo in the verdict hearing for case number 59/PUU-XXII/2024 in Jakarta, Wednesday, October 16, as quoted by Antara.

In the lawsuit, the applicants, who are academics at the Faculty of Law, Islamic University of Indonesia, challenged Article 523 of the Election Law which regulates the subject of money politics crimes only as "implementers, participants, and/or campaign teams".

According to them, the regulation is too narrow, protecting volunteers and/or sympathizers who are not registered as implementers, participants, and/or campaign teams at the KPU, to carry out money politics.

Thus, the applicant wants the phrase of the subject of the perpetrator to be expanded, from the phrase "every implementer, participant, and/or campaign team", to "every person".

In the consideration of the decision read by Suhartoyo, the Constitutional Court considered that the expansion of the legal subject or perpetrator of the crime of money politics in the election could apply to everyone, so it was not appropriate.

"Because the absence of restrictions can criminalize everyone and give rise to arbitrary actions," said Suhartoyo.

Suhartoyo emphasized that this is classified as criminal policy.

Regarding this matter, he said, the Court in several of its decisions has always been consistent with its position, that concerning this matter, it is the authority of the legislator.

He added that the phrase "every person" is also contained in the phrase "individual" in Articles 269-271 of the Election Law regarding election campaign implementers.

Therefore, the Constitutional Court considers that the lawsuit and case examples presented by the applicants in their lawsuit are issues of implementing norms that are not within the authority of the Constitutional Court to assess.

"In this case, if the public considers that Law 7/2017 (Election Law) still has weaknesses, especially regarding the legal subjects/perpetrators of money politics crimes in elections, then the legislators can create new legal norms by replacing old legal norms, namely by including a formulation regarding the legal subjects/perpetrators of money politics crimes in the upcoming amendment to the Election Law," said Suhartoyo.