The Constitutional Court (MK) ruling on protecting electoral rights has been widely praised. The government and the General Elections Commission (KPU) will make preparations for implementing the ruling’s mandate.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Constitutional Court has ruled that voters without electronic identity cards (e-IDs or e-KTP) can present informational statements (suket) on their e-ID registration records to vote. The ruling, issued on Thursday (3/28/2019), has been widely appreciated because it provides a solution for eligible voters who may not be able to exercise their right to vote, as they do not yet have e-IDs and are not on the final voters list (DPT).
Constitutional Court chief justice Anwar Usman read out the official ruling: “The phrase ‘e-KTP’ in Article 348, Point (9) of Law No. 7/2017 on Elections contradicts the 1945 Constitution and is not a legally binding condition, so long as its definition excludes the informational statement on e-KTP data records that is issued by the Population and Civil Registration Agency.”
The ruling is vital to uphold suffrage for those whose names are not on the DPT for the 2019 election. In the original regulation prior to the court’s judicial review, citizens who are excluded from the DPT may only vote between noon and 1 p.m. by referring to the special voters list (DPK) and showing their e-IDs at polling stations in their registered domicile. DPK voters were not permitted to use other forms of identification, including informational statements on their e-ID registration.
In its ruling, the court also stated that the registration deadline for transferee voters was extended from 30 days before voting day to seven days before voting day. The court also extended the vote tabulation deadline from the close of voting day to 12 hours after the close of voting day.
Follow up
Relevant parties are expected to follow up on the Constitutional Court ruling on the judicial review of Law No. 7/2017 on Elections. The KPU will prepare and issue several technical regulations as a result of the ruling, while the Home Ministry is proactively gathering e-ID data.
The ministry’s directorate general of population and civil registration has deployed teams to five provinces with low rates of e-ID data records: Papua, West Papua, Maluku, North Maluku and West Sulawesi.
The directorate general’s latest data shows that 4,231,823 Indonesians still do not possess e-IDs, with the majority in Papua. “Teams are currently at work in the five provinces until March 31. We will strive to gather more data records in Papua,” said population and civil registration director general Zudan Arif Fakrulloh.
However, in order to reach out to the 4 million people that still did not have e-IDs, Zudan expressed hope that these individuals would also be proactive. Citizens still without e-IDs were encouraged to visit the local population and civil registration office to submit their personal information.
This move was in line with the court ruling, with the court urging the directorate general to accelerate its data-recording process for citizens eligible for e-IDs. The accelerated process was also expected to increase the number of citizens eligible to obtain informational statements on e-ID registration records and, therefore, allow them to vote.
Appreciation
The petitioners of the judicial review appreciated the ruling, as represented by Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) executive director Titi Anggraini and former KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay.
House of Representatives Commission II deputy chair Nihayatul Wafiroh expressed hope that the ruling would resolve several electoral problems.
University of Indonesia law professor Topo Santoso said that the court ruling meant two things. First, the ruling showed the court’s intent to protect suffrage for all citizens. This was in line with the electoral principle that all eligible voters must be given the opportunity to vote.
“This right is guaranteed by law. Administrative issues should cause citizens to lose their right to vote,” said Topo.
Second, as a consequence of the ruling, was that election organizers should ensure to implement the ruling’s mandate in the short time available until Election Day.
Regulation
KPU chair Arief Budiman said the commission would immediately formulate actions to take following the ruling. The KPU would consider whether issuing a circular was enough, or if it was necessary to change its regulations to implement the ruling.
“If it turns out that there is no need to change KPU regulations, we will issue a circular to disseminate the information [publicly]. Election organizers, participants and voters must be informed of all changes. We need to disseminate this information. The deadline extension for transferee voter registration will mean nothing if election organizers and voters do not know about it,” said Arief.
Regarding the deadline extension for the vote tabulation, Arief said that, in principle, votes would be counted as soon as possible to take advantage of the 12-hour extension.
“If the tabulation is not finished by the end of voting day, it must proceed without any break. We now have a 12-hour extension, but the sooner tabulation is completed, the better it will be,” he said.