Pemilu di Papua. Foto diambil dari www.kompas.com
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT-Jakarta. Indonesia’s election commission launched an appeal against a controversial court ruling that ordered it to delay the 2024 presidential and general polls, officials said.
The commission will argue against a court decision that has reignited debate over extending President Joko Widodo’s time in office, which is limited to two five-year terms by the constitution and should end next year.
Senior politicians, activists and legal experts have warned delaying the 2024 election could threaten nearly 25 years of democratic reforms brought in after decades of authoritarian rule.
A recent district court ruling that effectively orders election organizers to postpone the 2024 general election, now less than a year away, has caused public uproar public and cast a spotlight on the little-known Prima Party, the plaintiff that won the civil lawsuit.
One of the 40 parties that aspired to contest the 2024 elections, Prima’s journey ended midway through the process in November, after challenging the General Elections Commission (KPU) over declaring it ineligible the previous month.
Accusing the KPU of “mistreatment” during the registration and verification process for political parties, Prima filed its lawsuit with the Central Jakarta District Court, which ruled in the party’s favor earlier this month. As part of its decision, the court also ordered the KPU to halt its ongoing preparations and restart the entire process, effectively pushing back the elections to 2025 at the earliest.
The 2024 presidential election is shaping into a three-horse race, and with Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as the man to beat, a potential showdown to reach the runoffs is looking increasingly inevitable between Gerindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto and his former ally, Anies Baswedan.
For Prabowo, 2024 could be 2014 all over again, with the ex-general again forced to compete with a former beneficiary for the presidency.
In 2014, Prabowo faced off against Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, whom he had backed in the Jakarta governorship race just two years before. A decade later, Prabowo will again be battling another politician he helped win the capital’s top job: Anies.
Amid rumors of its deepening ties with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Muhamad Mardiono, the acting chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), revealed that his party was planning to meet with the dominant party soon, and that an electoral alliance between the two was a possibility.
“Of course, we want to invite [the PDI-P] to form an [alliance], given our small stature with just 4.5 percent of seats [in the legislature],” Mardiono said. He added that the party planned to meet with the PDI-P sometime next week as part of its “political safari”, or road show, ahead of the 2024 general election.
After the Central Jakarta District Court ruled in favor of the Just and Prosperous People’s Party’s (PRIMA) lawsuit to postpone the 2024 elections, General Elections Commissioner (KPU) Idham Holik said on Wednesday that the KPU still has two weeks to finish the appeal file. The KPU is still preparing appeal memory files in order to finish the proof as of right now.
President Jokowi reaffirmed the government’s commitment to keeping an eye on the election phase to ensure it goes off without a hitch, in response to the Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to postpone the election.
Mochammad Afifuddin, a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU) said that this week the KPU would appeal the Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to ask the KPU to postpone the 2024 elections.
He said that the KPU is currently preparing files for the appeal, such as disputes over the registration of political parties of election participant candidates and election dispute hearings at the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu).
According to him, the ruling raises both pros and cons in the community. As a result, he urged the General Election Commission (KPU) to appeal the court decision, with all budgets and forms of preparation having also been done correctly.
Feri Amsari, a constitutional law expert at Andalas University said that the Central Jakarta District Court judge’s decision to postpone the 2024 elections would undermine Indonesia’s constitution.
Feri also said that the judge’s actions, which resulted in the lawsuit from the Just and Prosperous People’s Party (PRIMA), violated the Supreme Court’s rule prohibiting district courts from hearing unlawful cases.
Feri claimed that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the case and that it should be dismissed or transferred to the administrative court.
In a discussion on Sunday hosted by Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Andalas University Faculty of Law Center for Constitutional Studies (PUSaKO) Director Feri Amsari said in his notes that from 2019 to 2023, there were 17 cases of unlawful acts that were filed with the Central Jakarta District Court.
He added that they suspected that there were irregularities behind the court decision. Themis Indonesia advocate Ibnu Syamsu believed that the plaintiff, PRIMA, had deliberately asked for an election postponement.
The Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to postpone the 2024 elections grossly oversteps the court’s jurisdiction and contravenes both electoral law and the Constitution of Indonesia. Even more concerningly, it suggests that those hoping to prolong the current regime still fail to recognize the need for timely elections.
Most importantly, the continued push for delaying the 2024 elections must be exposed and rejected before any more harm is done. With the electoral dispute resolution process clearly set out and the concept of jurisdiction well understood by judges, a sinister question arises.
If the judges knew that they were not competent to decide this issue, why did they choose to take the case, and, having accepted the case, to issue such an extraordinary ruling? The only apparent answer is that there has been a clear attempt to delay the elections scheduled for 2024, and this case forms part of that effort.
President Jokowi reaffirmed the government’s commitment to keeping an eye on the election phase to ensure it goes off without a hitch. In response to a query regarding the Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to postpone the election, the President made this statement.
According to him, the ruling raises both pros and cons in the community. As a result, he urged the General Election Commission (KPU) to appeal the court decision.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto said his team was firm not to tolerate any attempts to postpone the elections and would fight those who wanted to postpone them.
After meeting National Democratic (NasDem) Party Chair Surya Paloh and his entourage in Hambalang, Bogor, on Sunday, Gerindra Party Chair Prabowo Subianto said he respected the party’s decision to run Anies Baswedan as a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Prabowo said that he was prepared to face Anies in the five-year political contest. According to him, it is the people who will vote in the presidential election.
President Jokowi faces mounting pressure to address a surprise court ruling this week that requires poll organizers to postpone the 2024 general elections by more than two years, as opposition to delaying the elections continues to grow.
Deciding on a civil lawsuit launched by an obscure political party claiming unfair treatment in the lead up to the polls, the Central Jakarta Court shocked the nation on Thursday by ordering the General Elections Commission (KPU) to stop all ongoing election procedures and restart the process in two years, four months and seven days.
This would effectively delay the elections scheduled for Feb. 14 next year to 2025 at the earliest, a suggestion that has angered many across the spectrum of national politics and posed questions about the court’s authority and motivation.
Gerindra Party Chair Prabowo Subianto on Sunday said the Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to postpone the 2024 elections was unreasonable. Prabowo said that the ruling is not final because there are still appeals pending. He also said he realized that the court decision had sparked controversy, prompting many government officials to comment.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Noory Okthariza alleged that an organized group was behind the Central Jakarta District Court’s decision to ask the KPU to postpone the 2024 elections.
Noory said that the group has a variety of tools at its disposal to postpone the election, such as through amendments to the 1945 Constitution, the revival of Broad Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN), and village head mobilization. He said that the group is going through the court system in this case.
Presidential Chief of Staff Deputy Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, in a written statement, confirmed that the 2024 elections will still be held as scheduled.
The statement followed a decision by the Central Jakarta District Court to postpone the elections. Jaleswari conveyed President Jokowi’s commitment, adding that Jokowi had previously expressed his support for constitutionally mandated elections in 2024.
She assured that the government would continue to support and facilitate the scheduled elections, and the government has kept the KPU in charge of election preparations.
The court’s ruling ordering the General Elections Commission (KPU) to restart the entire process of preparing the legislative and presidential elections originally scheduled for February 2024 fits a pattern that we have seen in the last two years or so: Delay the election and hence allow incumbent President Jokowi to stay in power beyond October 2024. Whoever is behind this scheme has tried different ways but failed.
Gerindra will not allow Sandiaga Uno to become a running mate for Anies Baswedan in the 2024 presidential election, the party’s chairman confirmed. As long as Sandiaga is a member of Gerindra, he must follow the party’s line and decisions, Prabowo Subianto said in a news conference in Bogor, West Java.
