Rumah Pemilu Indonesia Election Portal
The 2024 Pileg Election Results Dispute (PHPU) at the Constitutional Court (MK) has been completed, after a 3-day decision-reading session, starting on June 6, 7, 8, 2024. The total number of cases registered by the Constitutional Court is 297 cases, 191 cases have been dismissed (not accepted or baseless) on May 21-22, 2024. Of the 106 cases, the Constitutional Court rejected 58 cases, and 38 cases were partially granted, as many as 6 cases were fully granted, as well as 3 cases were granted withdrawal and 1 case could not be accepted.
The Center for Constitutional Studies (PUSaKO), Faculty of Law, Andalas University, based on PHPU monitoring, said that the number of cases in PHPU 2024 had increased compared to previous elections. In the 2004 elections, the number of PHPU applications was 44 cases, in 2009 70 cases, in 2024 it was 297 cases, and 252 cases in the 2019 elections. Meanwhile, disputes over election results in 2024, cases that entered the Constitutional Court increased to 299 cases, with 2 cases including PHPU Pilpres.
“Specifically for PHPU Pileg in 2024, there are 297 PHPU cases submitted to the Constitutional Court, both from the DPR, DPD, Provincial DPRD, and Regency / City DPRD,” said PUSaKO Researcher, Habib Ferian Fajar in an online discussion entitled ‘Monitoring of Disputes over Election Results (PHPU) Legislative Year 2024’ (19/6).
Habib noted that the DPD PHPU case amounted to 12 cases, while the DPR and DPRD PHPU were 285 cases. Meanwhile, based on the type of filing of PHPU cases at the Constitutional Court, 40% or 114 cases were filed by individuals and 171 cases or 60% were filed by political parties.
Habib further explained, the highest distribution of PHPU Pileg came from Central Papua Province with 26 cases, followed by Aceh with 19 cases, then Banten with 18 cases, and Papua with 17 cases that entered the Constitutional Court. The number of cases was then divided into three panels and filled by each MK judge assigned to each panel.
“Of the 297 cases filed in 2024, 148 cases were declared inadmissible, 13 cases were declared that the Constitutional Court did not have the authority to examine, 20 cases were declared void, 57 cases were rejected, 15 cases were withdrawn, 38 cases were partially granted, and six cases were fully granted,” he explained.
In the trial process, the Constitutional Court bases its decision not to accept or reject the application such as; parties who are absent or late in the trial, unclear legal position, lack of physical evidence, and errors in displaying data. In several PHPU Pileg 2024 decisions, it also requires re-voting (PSU) due to violations or errors proven during the election process. PUSaKO noted that PSUs occurred in 20 provinces, including Aceh, Riau, Jambi, and Papua Mountains.
Habib believes that transparency in the PHPU trial process at the Constitutional Court is very important to ensure justice and openness. According to him, a transparent trial process can provide confidence to the public that the law is enforced fairly. Another thing, transparency also ensures that trial information can be accessed by the public including the wider community, the media, and interested parties.
“With transparency, the public can monitor and supervise the course of the trial, ensuring the accountability of election organizing institutions such as the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu),” he said.
Meanwhile, Program Manager at the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Fadli Ramadhanil, said that the increase in the number of applications in the 2024 PHPU compared to the 2014 and 2024 elections shows the awareness of citizens and election participants to maintain the purity of voters’ votes. However, on the other hand, the large number of PHPU requests also reflects serious problems in organizing elections.
“In addition to the issue of vote counting errors and election fraud, there are also nomination problems brought to the Constitutional Court. One of them is the issue of 30% female candidacy that must be fulfilled by every political party in all electoral districts. There is also the issue of ex-convicts who have not finished serving their jail term,” Fadli explained.
Fadli explained that the most controversial case related to the pause period for ex-convicts was the nomination of Irman Gusman. The Constitutional Court considered that the ex-convict in the bribery case of Perum Bulog sugar imports, who was only released on September 26, 2019, was not included in the category of ex-convicts who were sentenced to 5 years or more. According to the Court, Irman Gusman is not bound by the obligation of a 5-year waiting period after his release to be able to run in the legislative elections.
The verdict of Irman Gusman’s PHPU ordered KPU to change the Permanent Candidate List (DCT) for the re-election of DPD West Sumatera electoral district to include Irman Gusman’s name. Thus, former corruption convict Irman Gusman officially participated in the PSU scheduled for July 13, 2024 in West Sumatera Province.
“Irman is not listed as a participant in the February 14, 2024 election because he has not fulfilled the 5-year gap period requirement. This is a burden for the Constitutional Court because for the first time an individual who is not a participant in the election filed a petition and was accepted by the Constitutional Court,” Fadli explained.
Fadli concluded that through PHPU 2024, the public can see that the increase in the number of applications at the Constitutional Court shows that there is more awareness to propose corrections to election results. But it also shows that there are serious problems in the integrity and professionalism of the election organizers. In addition, he also believes that the Constitutional Court needs to better position the parties that are acceptable in the PHPU process. []
