MK: Re-Pilkada Held If The Empty Box Wins At Most 1 Year

Illustrations-MK Buildings (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) decided that the regional head election (pilkada) would be repeated no later than one year after the empty box in the single candidate election was declared victorious.

In addition, the Constitutional Court also stated that the elected regional heads and deputy heads based on the results of the re-election were held until the head and regional representatives were appointed as a result of the next simultaneous regional elections, as long as they did not exceed the five-year period since the inauguration.

"Granted the petitioners' petition for part," said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo reading the verdict No. 126/PUU-XXII/2024 in the Plenary Court Session Room, Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, November 14.

This provision is a new meaning of the Constitutional Court against Article 54D paragraph (3) of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (UU Pilkada).

The application for the judicial review was submitted by students and private employees named Wanda Cahya Irani and Nicholas Wijaya. One of the main applications of the petitioners relates to the clarity of the phrase 'next election' in Article 54D paragraph (3) of the Pilkada Law.

Basically, Article 54D of the Pilkada Law regulates the follow-up to the election results with one candidate pair or also known as the single candidate election.

Article 54D paragraph (1) mandates that the KPU determines the elected candidate pair in the single candidate election if they get a vote of more than 50 percent of the valid votes. If the votes acquired by the single candidate pair are less than that requirement, the candidate pair may nominate again in the next election, as regulated in Article 54D paragraph (2).

Meanwhile, Article 54D paragraph (3) stipulates that the next election will be repeated in the following year or carried out according to the schedule contained in the laws and regulations. This is what the petitioners question because they are considered to have no fair legal certainty.

The Constitutional Court said that the design of the next election time as regulated in Article 54D paragraph (3) of the Pilkada Law was formulated by the DPR and the government not in the national simultaneous regional election design model, as applied in the 2024 Pilkada. Therefore, in addition to containing the phrase next election', the article also contains next year.

According to the Constitutional Court, the two phrases must be interpreted by not giving up the nature of the simultaneous implementation of the regional elections and not being allowed to carry out the duties of the regional head to serve for too long.

On that basis, according to the Constitutional Court, the meaning of the phrase next election' and next year' in the norms of Article 54D paragraph (3) of the Pilkada Law becomes the next election is carried out within a maximum of one year of voting on 27 November 2024'.

However, the Court advised, the KPU as the organizer of the regional elections should try to carry out the next election as soon as possible.

"This is intended so that regional heads and deputy regional heads who are elected from the results of the next election do not lose much of their right to serve in the term of office since the inauguration," said Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra reading out the considerations of the Constitutional Court.

Furthermore, in order to maintain the simultaneous model of regional elections nationally, the Constitutional Court said that the elected regional head and deputy head because the re-cash must receive a term of office of less than five years.

"In this case, the term of office of regional heads and deputy regional heads who will not reach five years is a logical consequence of the 'next election' in question," said Saldi.

In addition, the Constitutional Court also reminded that it is also necessary to think about legal protection for regional heads and deputy heads whose terms of office are not fulfilled for up to five years. For example, by providing compensation.

The provision of compensation can be provided with the provisions of Article 202 of Law Number 8 of 2015, namely the head and deputy regional head who do not have a period of being compensated for the amount of the basic salary multiplied by the amount of the remaining month, and obtaining pension rights for one period.

"Or compensation can be formulated in other forms," added Saldi.