Students Apply For Material Tests To The Constitutional Court Regarding The Possibility Of A Legislative Election As "Test The Water" In Pilkada

Nur Fauzi Ramadhan (left) and Ahmad Al Farizy (right), students of the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, as applicants for the judicial review of the Pilkada Law on the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia to the Constitutional Court (MK) (PHOTO: DOK. BETWEEN)

SEMARANG - Semester VIII student at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia (FHUI), Nur Fauzi Ramadhan, together with Ahmad Al Farizy, have submitted a request for a judicial review of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of Law Number 10 of 2016 (UU Pilkada) to the Constitutional Court (MK).

This application was made to obtain certainty regarding the possibility of general elections for legislative members (pileg) as "test the water" in the regional head election.

Nur Fauzi Ramadhan, on Saturday, March 2, explained the reasons behind this request, "To seek certainty, I and Ahmad Al Farizy submitted a request for a judicial review to the Constitutional Court in order to get an answer whether the elected candidate in the legislative election could run in the regional head election or not."

Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of the Pilkada Law states that regional head candidates must in writing state their resignation as members of the House of Representatives (DPR), members of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), and members of the DPRD since they were appointed as candidate pairs for election.

According to Nur Fauzi, the elected candidates in the DPR RI Member Election and the DPD RI Member Election are scheduled to be sworn in on October 1, 2024. If any of them want to participate in the regional head elections (pilkada), both at the provincial and district/city levels, it is still a question whether they are still considered elected candidates or not to be members of the legislature.

"Registration of the candidate pairs for regional heads and deputy regional heads from 27 to 29 August 2024. This provision is contained in the General Election Commission (PKPU) Regulation Number 2 of 2024 concerning the Stages and Schedules for the Election of Governors and Deputy Governors, Regents and Deputy Regents, as well as Mayors and Deputy Mayors of 2024," he added.

Nur Fauzi also highlighted the possibility of legislative elections as a "test the water" event in preparation for regional head elections. "It could be that those who take part in the legislative elections as a place to check the waves of strength in their votes in electoral districts (dapil) to participate in the regional elections," he said.

In this context, Titi Anggraini, a member of the Advisory Council of Needdem, emphasized that if a person is elected as a candidate to remain in the regional election, then they must resign from their legislative position in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter s of Law no. 10/2016.

Meanwhile, a lecturer at the Election Law at the UI Faculty of Law, Ahmad Al Farizy, stated that the configuration of existing rules forced the elected legislative candidate to resign if he was to remain a permanent candidate in the regional elections. "The elected candidate must resign and be replaced with the next most votes," he said.

This case is registered under number 12/PUU-XXII/2024 at the Constitus Court