REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By: Andi Abdussalam

The Constitutional Court (MK) finally decided on Thursday to rule in favor of a judicial review request filed by the Civil Society Coalition for Election which asked for a simultaneous legislative and presidential election.

Led by constitutional expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra and political analyst Effendi Gazali, the coalition lodged a judicial review of Law No. 42/2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections which among others regulated that the legislative elections and presidential elections are held in a separate time.

The MK, however, apparently did not grant the coalition's request for the postponement of this year's legislative election and its rescheduling to be held simultaneously with the presidential elections next July. The MK ruled that simultaneous elections will be held beginning in 2019.

The government, based on Law No. 4/2008, has planned to organize a legislative election on April 9 and a presidential and vice presidential election on July 9, 2014.

"Simultaneous elections will be held in 2019," MK Chairman Hamdan Zoelva said when reading the court's verdict on Thursday, thus ruling in favor of the petitioners.

Yusril, Gazali and friends filed the review request on Law No.4/2008 arguing it was against the Constitution which suggested that general elections be held once in five years. Besides, the holding of elections in two separate times was not efficient and harmed the constitutional interest of the people.

The coalition hoped that the elections would be held simultaneously in a package policy by combining a presidential coattail and political efficacy systems where voters could vote for a legislative and presidential candidate nominated by one political party, or for a legislative and presidential candidate nominated by different political parties.

In its ruling on Thursday, the MK did not change the legislative and presidential election schedules this year, namely on April 9 and July 9, 2014. But in the next five years, both elections will be held simultaneously in 2019.

Earlier, General Elections Commission (KPU) Chairman Husni Kamil Manik said his commission did not prepare anticipatory steps in the face of the judicial review of Law Number 42 of 2008 by the MK, saying that KPU was not doing jobs whose legal basis was not yet issued.

"KPU is not doing or thinking of a job whose regulations or laws are not yet issued," Husni Kamil Manik said in Pontianak, West Kalimantan on Thursday.

He said that the KPU carried out its task based on Law No. 8/2012 on Legislative Elections and Law on No. 42/2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections. The KPU chairman said that based on the two laws, the legislative and executive elections are carried out at two different times. "Based on the concept, there will be three months of time between the two polling events," he said.

In the meantime, Minister of Law and Human Rights Affairs, Amir Syamsuddin said on Wednesday that the government will follow whatever decision the Constitutional Court (MK) will take, on the judicial review of Law No. 42/2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

"We in the government always have a position because we will always follow the constitutional concept. Therefore, we will abide by whatever the MK decides over the election law," he commented at the House of Representatives (DPR) building on Wednesday.

The minister pointed that he was aware of the controversies over the judicial review of Law No.42/2008. But he stressed on the fact that the government will not take a position to raise its opinion over the issue.

"We do not want to exert influence on the judicial review process. Although it is logical to make a comment, yet too many comments will cause a problem," he noted.

In his position as a legal practitioner, Amir sees benefit in the holding of a simultaneous elections. So, it is just ideal to hold a simultaneous election in 2019.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Effendi Gazali and friends in the coalition filed the judicial review request with the MK over the Law No. 42/2008 to prove that the general elections, so far, were held in an unconstitutional manner.

"I have requested the MK to postpone the legislative elections until July 2014 (to be held simultaneously with the presidential election). The inauguration of the elected legislators will be held as per schedule on October 1, and the President-elect will be on October 20, 2014. So, there will be no chaos, except if there are parties intending to disrupt the proceedings," Yusril noted.

In the dossier of his judicial review request, Yusril urged the MK to review the Article 3 point 4, Article 9, Article 14 point 2, and Article 112 of Law No. 42/2008 on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections, which he believes were against the 1945 Constitution.

According to Yusril, Article 4 point 1 and Article 7C of the 1945 Constitution stipulate that the Indonesian government, based on the Constitution, adopts a presidential system.

If the presidential system is related to Article 22E point 1, 2, and 3, it is evident that a general election is held once every five years. The election is held to vote for the members of the House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council, the President, and the Vice President. They should be held concurrently based on the Constitution, he remarked.

Secretary General of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Mahfudz Siddiq said meanwhile that the democratic system in Indonesia can be made healthy if the Constitutional Court accepted the judicial review request of the law on presidential and vice presidential elections.

"If the judicial review is accepted by the MK, it will make the democratic system in the country healthier, as it will help to resolve the political coalition problems."

He pointed out that if the judicial review was approved, it will reinforce the government's presidential system. It will enable the political parties to nominate the names for their respective presidential and vice presidential candidates much earlier.

According to Mahfudz, if the political parties coalesced, it is more or less only a form of support to the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the second round of the presidential elections.

If the judicial review request is approved by the MK, then it will not have far-reaching implications," the PKS secretary general remarked.

Former Constitutional Court chairman Mahfud MD also said on Wednesday the MK could just accept the judicial review if there was a new condition stating that separate elections (legislative election and presidential election) were against the Constitution.

But Mahfud claimed that he did not know whether there was a new condition now which regards separate elections as against the Constitution. He explained that whatever the MK decided on the judicial review, will constitute a binding legal product.

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