Deciding the Fate of the Pilkada in 40 Regions, MK is Expected Not to be Bound by Efficiency

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Constitutional Court, or MK, will decide the fate of regional elections in 40 areas early next week. In delivering its ruling, the MK is expected not to be constrained by budget efficiency pressures and to remain steadfast in its commitment to upholding constitutional democracy.

"The Constitutional Court is demanded to uphold the practice of regional elections that are truly honest, fair, and democratic in a consistent manner," stated Titi Anggraini, an election law lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, on Thursday (20/2/2025).

Thus, the Constitutional Court need not hesitate if a re-election or a repeat voting must indeed be conducted upon finding violations of fundamental matters in upholding constitutional democracy.

According to the plan, the Constitutional Court (MK) will hold a hearing to deliver verdicts on 40 regional election dispute cases on Monday (24/2/2025), starting at 8:00 AM WIB. This was confirmed by the Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau of the MK, Pan Mohamad Faiz, who emphasized that the verdict delivery session could be completed within a single day.

According to Titi, there are several dispute petitions that have a high likelihood of being granted and could result in the disqualification of candidates. In terms of dispute resolution practices so far, the Constitutional Court (MK) has never tolerated violations of candidate requirements in the conduct of regional elections. The MK will annul candidates proven during the trial to not meet the candidate requirements, considering that candidate requirements are fundamental for the MK, leaving no room for justification.

"The Constitutional Court (MK) does not hesitate to disqualify candidate pairs who do not meet the requirements. For instance, due to failing to meet the candidacy requirements for former convicts," said Titi.

In this dispute, there are four petitions questioning the requirements related to the status of convicts. These include disputes in the Papua Province Regional Election, Boven Digoel Regency, Pasaman, and North Gorontalo. Each case has a different position.

The Constitutional Court also tends to be more assertive regarding cases of requirements that fundamentally affect the validity of candidacies in regional elections. Aside from the status of convicts, there are also issues that fall into this category, such as diplomas or LHKPN (State Officials' Wealth Report) submissions.

In the regional election dispute this time, there were two regional head candidates whose high school diplomas were questioned, namely the mayoral candidate for Palopo and the regent candidate for Pasaman. In the previous trial, the Constitutional Court heard statements from the Head of the PKBM (Community Learning Activity Center) where the two candidates had studied and the Head of the local Education Office.

From the trial it was revealed that the Head of the North Jakarta Region II Education Sub-dept. did not find the name of Trisal Tahir, a candidate for mayor of Palopo, in the list of 50 participants who passed the exam and received a diploma. Likewise, the Head of the Lampung Province Education and Culture Office did not find a diploma in the name of Aries Sandi Putra, a candidate for regent of Pesawaran, in the list of participants in the 1995 equivalency exam.

"For diplomas, if the Constitutional Court finds that candidates clearly do not meet the diploma requirements, the Constitutional Court should not tolerate the violation. Because, it is a very fundamental violation of the honest and fair principles that must be fulfilled by candidates in the regional election contest," said Titi.

According to Titi, if the regional head candidates in Palopo City and Pasaman Regency are proven to use fake diplomas, the potential for disqualification of the candidates is very large. However, the question is whether only the candidate with the fake diploma will be disqualified or whether the candidate pair will be a package. If only one candidate is disqualified, then the Constitutional Court can order a repeat election starting with a replacement candidate.

So far, the Constitutional Court has used such a pattern. An exception was made for the West Kotawaringin Pilkada where the Constitutional Court immediately determined the elected candidate pair because there were only two candidate pairs.

Some of the election disputes that attracted attention included the dispute over the election of the Mandailing Natal regent and deputy regent candidates. The winning candidate pair was questioned because they submitted their LHKPN reports that did not comply with KPK Circular Letter Number 13 of 2024, namely their wealth report after December 31, 2023.

Meanwhile, one of the regional head candidates in North Halmahera Regency was accused of committing a despicable act with the opposite sex. There are still several cases that attract attention such as the dispute over the results of the North Barito Regency Pilkada which questioned a difference of eight votes and Lamandau Regency with allegations of prying into ballots while the difference was very small.

One of the issues that emerged in this year's regional election disputes was the interpretation of the calculation of the term of office of the incumbent regional head. This issue was found in the election disputes of Empat Lawang, South Bengkulu, Tasikmalaya, and Kutai Kertanegara Regencies.

The nomination of the incumbent for the Tasikmalaya Pilkada, Ade Sugianto, was questioned because the person concerned was considered to have served two terms.

The first period was calculated when the person concerned served as deputy regent but carried out duties as Regent of Tasikmalaya from September 5 to December 3, 2018 (2 months 28 days) and then was inaugurated as definitive regent from December 3, 2018 to March 23, 2021 (2 years 3 months 20 days). The second period was when Ade then held the same position in the 2020-2024 period, inaugurated on April 26, 2021 to February 20, 2025 (3 years 9 months 25 days). The total factual duration of office is 6 years 4 months 13 days.

A similar case occurred for Edi Darmansyah, a candidate for regent of Kutai Kertanegara, and Gusnan Mulyadi, a candidate for regent of South Bengkulu.

Regarding this issue, the Association of Indonesian District Governments (Apkasi) submitted an amicus curiae to the Constitutional Court regarding the interpretation of the calculation of the term of office.

Apkasi's attorney, Donal Fariz from Visi Law Office, said that the Constitutional Court should still calculate the term of office starting from the inauguration in accordance with the provisions of Article 162 of the Regional Election Law. The Constitutional Court should not count the position of the acting regent or the position of the deputy regent who carries out duties as regent as part of the definitive position. This is because it will cause legal confusion because these positions cannot be equated with definitive positions.