Needdem Asks All Parties To Maintain The Independence Of The Constitutional Court To Determine A Lawsuit For Change Of The Election System

JAKARTA - The Board of Trustees of the Election and Democracy Association (Perludem) Titi Anggraini asked all parties to maintain the independence of the Constitutional Court (MK) in deciding on a judicial review lawsuit or judicial review of the change of the open proportional election system to be closed.

The judicial review lawsuit was submitted by six people to the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, if the proportional is closed, the people cannot directly determine the figure of a legislative candidate (caleg) but choose a political party that will unilaterally sort out its cadres into legislative candidates.

"We should push together the independence and independence of the Constitutional Court in deciding," said Titi, Tuesday, February 28, as quoted by Antara.

The Constitutional Court, he continued, should focus on providing signs or indicators for legislators to be able to evaluate and make choices of the electoral system democratically and inclusively and be able to strengthen the foundation of constitutional democracy in Indonesia.

Titi, who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia (UI), said that testing the norms of election laws to the Constitutional Court is a normal procedure. In this case, citizens do have constitutional rights to test the laws against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

This was stated in relation to the testing of Article 168 paragraph (2), Article 342 paragraph (2), Article 353 paragraph (1) letter b, Article 386 paragraph (2) letter b, Article 420 letter c and d, Article 422, Article 424 paragraph (2), Article 426 paragraph (3) Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

It's just that, Titi continued, it became controversial because of the analysis or speculation of the results of testing the electoral system which became crowded because it could have an impact on the future of political parties and their existence in winning elections.

"So, I don't want to assume that the electoral system in 2024 is a closed proportional electoral system," he said when responding if the Constitutional Court's decision granted the applicant for the judicial review of the Election Law on the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

Answering whether the proportional system is automatically closed to the song science method does not apply, Titi said that the proportional or closed electoral system could use the method.

This election activist said the science and song method was not related to determining the candidate who would occupy the elected seat. This method is to convert party votes into seat acquisition.

However, based on the evaluation of the 2019 Election and previous elections, according to him, the electoral system in Indonesia needs evaluation. This is because the electoral system includes a number of variables that affect the conversion of votes into chairs, not just about choosing parties or choosing people.

Previously, the Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari mentioned the possibility of implementing a closed proportional system. Hasyim also apologized for his remarks after the trial of alleged ethical violations held by the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP) yesterday.