Assessed Absurd Lawsuit, The Constitutional Court Is BELIEVEd To Be ImPOSing A Closed Proportional System For The 2024 General Election

Member of Commission VIII DPR RI Luqman Hakim during a working meeting of Commission VIII DPR RI. Photo: Runi/nr

JAKARTA - Member of the DPR from the PKB faction, Luqman Hakim, believes that the Constitutional Court (MK) will not grant the lawsuit against the judicial review of Article 420 of Law 7 of 2017 concerning Elections related to an open proportional system.

"I am haqqul sure, the Constitutional Court will not grant part or the whole of the petitum submitted by the plaintiffs," Luqman told reporters, Thursday, January 5.

Luqman explained, Article 420 of the Election Law, especially letters (d), regulates the procedure for converting votes to a political party seat in one electoral district using the Sainte Lague method. Namely, the valid votes obtained by each party are divided into odd numbers starting from 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on.

"This calculation is to determine whether political parties have the right to allocate seats in parliament and how many seats are entitled to be obtained," he explained.

The former Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the DPR RI assessed that removing the letter (d) Article 420 would actually cause deadlock and chaos when entering the stage of distributing seats for election participants.

Therefore, said Luqman, without this article there are no more rules that serve as guidelines on how to divide parliamentary seats into political parties participating in elections in an electoral district.

"Thus, if the Constitutional Court grants the petitum of the plaintiffs against Article 420, then the upcoming 2024 election cannot produce a parliamentary seat for all political parties participating in the election. Is that right?," he said.

Luqman also highlighted the plaintiff's petitum against Article 422 of the Election Law. The plaintiffs requested that the sound of this article be changed to Determination of elected candidates for members of the DPR, provincial DPRD, and district/city DPRD from the Political Parties Participants of the Election is based on the acquisition of seats for the Election Political Party in an electoral district.

While the original text of Article 422 of the Election Law reads: Determination of elected candidates for members of the DPR, provincial DPRD, and district/city DPRD from the Political Parties Election Participants is based on the seat of the Political Parties Election Participants in an electoral area determined based on the most votes obtained by each candidate for members of the DPR, provincial DPRD, and district/city DPRD in an electoral district listed in the ballot letter., "he concluded.