"We understand that all MK decisions are final and binding. God willing, we are ready to stand behind the decisions," MKMK member Yuliandri stated here on Thursday.
He made the remarks while receiving scores of members of civil society including activists, students, and scholars who visited the MK complex to convey their support to the Court.
Yuliandri affirmed that MKMK is ready to receive input from civil society in defending the court's decisions. He also spoke of having been in touch with MKMK Chairperson I Dewa Gede Palguna to consider its follow-up actions.
He emphasized that the Honorary Council is tasked with preserving and upholding MK's dignity and its decisions.
"We are ready to deliver public inputs to the Constitutional Court Chief Justice and other justices," he affirmed.
Members of civil society who conveyed their support to the MK were activist and poet Goenawan Mohamad, Gadjah Mada University's constitutional law expert Zainal Arifin Mochtar, University of Indonesia's professor of anthropology of law Sulistyowati Irianto, and Omi Madjid, the spouse of late Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid.
On Tuesday, the MK decided that the threshold for nominating candidates for regional head and deputy regional head posts should be solely on votes gained in regional elections instead of by seats in regional parliaments.
The verdict effectively overrode Article 40(1) of the Law on Regional Leaders' Election, which earlier required parties to either gain 25 percent of the vote share or 20 percent of the regional parliaments' seats to nominate candidates.
The Court also declared on the same day that the age threshold for regional head candidates -- 30 years for governor and 25 years for district heads and mayors -- should be counted from the candidate's registration day.
However, the parliament's Legislative Body and the government speedily approved on Wednesday revisions to the Law on Regional Leaders' Election for ratification at the plenary session. The revision only partly adheres to the MK ruling.
The revised draft stated that the votes threshold for regional head elections shall apply only to parties who failed to enter regional parliaments, while the parliamentary parties remain subject to the parliament seat threshold.
Moreover, the revision stated that the age threshold for regional leaders should be counted from the inauguration day instead of the registration day. The parliament said an earlier Supreme Court verdict justified the change.
Due to a lack of quorum, the plenary session to ratify the revisions of the Law on Regional Leaders' Election, planned on Thursday morning, was called off.
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Translator: Fath Putra Mulya, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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