"There is no evidence that convinces the Court regarding presidential intervention in changing the requirements for candidate pairs in the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections," Constitutional Judge Arief Hidayat stated in the decision-reading session at the Indonesian Constitutional Court on Monday.
Anies-Muhaimin, as the petitioner in this case, argued that there was presidential intervention in changing the requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates through Constitutional Court Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023.
According to Hidayat, the MK Honorary Council (MKMK) decision which stated that there were serious ethical violations in making MK Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 could not be used as sufficient evidence of nepotism act that gave rise to the abuse of power by the president.
He remarked that MKMK has no authority to cancel the validity of MK's decision. Moreover, the Court had repeatedly confirmed the background and applicability of the decision in the judicial review decision after the Constitutional Court Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 was read out.
"According to the Court, the issue regarding the interpretation of the requirements for candidate pairs as decided by the Court is within the realm of judicial review, so there is no question regarding the enforceability of these requirements," Hidayat emphasized.
Thus, the MK found no problem in fulfilling the requirements for Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a vice presidential candidate.
The results of the verification and determination of candidate pairs carried out by the General Elections Commission (KPU) were in accordance with the provisions.
The MK read out its decision in the 2024 General Election Results Dispute (PHPU) case on Monday. Chief Justice of MK Suhartoyo started the presidential election dispute trial at 8:59 local time.
The lawsuit filed by Anies-Muhaimin is registered with Case Number 1/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024, while Ganjar-Mahfud's lawsuit is registered with Case Number 2/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024.
In their petition, the Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud pairs appealed to the MK to cancel KPU Decree Number 360 of 2024 concerning the determination of the results of the 2024 presidential and vice presidential elections.
They also urged the MK to disqualify the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair as candidates in the 2024 presidential election and requested the MK to order the KPU to conduct re-election for the 2024 presidential election without including Prabowo-Gibran.
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Translator: Fath Putra Mulya, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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