MPR Chairperson Assigns 2024 Elections Must Be Implemented On Time

Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly Bambang Soesatyo emphasized that the 2024 General Election must be held on time on February 14, 2024, as mandated by the 1945 Constitution which regulates elections every five years.

This was conveyed in response to the decision of the Central Jakarta District Court which ordered the Indonesian KPU to postpone the implementation of the 2024 General Election by winning a civil lawsuit by the People's Fair and Prosperous Party (Prima), last Thursday.

"The election must be carried out on time as stipulated in Article 22 E of the 1945 Constitution," said Bamsoet, his nickname, in a statement received quoted by ANTARA, Friday, March 3.

For this reason, Bamsoet asked the election organizers to continue the process and stages of the 2024 General Election which have been running to date.

"According to the scheme or roadmap for the stages of elections that have been mutually agreed upon," he said.

Bamsoet assessed that the decision of the Central Jakarta District Court contradicted the constitutional mandate and Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections (UU Elections). He said the Election Law did not give a mandate to the District Court as the party authorized to decide the election-related disputes, as regulated in Article 470 and Article 471 of the Election Law. "The lawsuit or dispute related to the KPU's decision in the process of verifying political parties candidates for election participants is handled by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) and the State Administrative Court (PTUN)," he said. Therefore, Bamsoet asked the Indonesian KPU to urge the Central Jakarta District Court to provide details and details regarding the factors causing the 2024 General Election to be postponed, considering that the democratic agenda must be carried out regularly in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. "Most of the regions of delay, and which set the postponement, because these things must be publicly informed," he added.Bamsoet also asked the DKI Jakarta High Court to immediately process the appeal that would be pursued by the Indonesian KPU's decision against the decision of the Central Jakarta District Court so as not to disrupt the national stability. "So that it quickly responds to the KPU's appeal to the High Court, so that this case does not cause polemic or chaos in the community that has the potential to reduce public trust and participation in the process and implementation of the 2024 election," said Bamsoet. Previously, Thursday, the Central Jakarta District Court granted the Prima's lawsuit against the General Election Commission not to carry out the remaining stages of the 2024 election and carried out the election stages from the beginning for approximately 2 years and 4 months 7 days.

Thus, the Central Jakarta District Court automatically ordered to postpone the general election which was previously scheduled to take place on February 14, 2024. "Punishing the defendant (KPU) not to carry out the remaining stages of the 2024 General Election since this decision was pronounced and carrying out the general election stages from the beginning for approximately 2 years 4 months 7 days," said the Central Jakarta District Court Judges chaired by Oyong, quoted from Decision Number 757/Pdt.G/2022/PN Jkt.Pst, accessed from Jakarta.