Deputy Chairman of the People's Representative Council (DPR) of the Republic of Indonesia, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, emphasized that the implementation of the 2024 regional head elections (Pilkada) will still follow the rules of the Constitutional Court following the cancellation of the plenary session to ratify the revision of the Regional Head Election Law.
The politician from the Gerindra faction said that the process of discussing the revision of the Regional Election Law must go through the stages regulated by the DPR's rules of procedure.
“Because on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, we both know that we are at the regional election registration stage, the Constitutional Court's decision will apply, judicial review (testing of the law) proposed by the Labor Party and Gelora,” said Sufmi while speaking at a press conference at the MPR/DPR Complex, Jakarta, Thursday (22/8) evening.
He emphasized that the revision of the Regional Election Law will continue to be reviewed in the coming period, to “perfect the implementation of regional elections.”
However, to the news agency Reuters, Sufmi said the discussion of the revision of the Pilkada Bill will continue in the next DPR session. This means that the discussion will continue after President Joko Widodo completes his second and final term in October.
The DPR was scheduled to hold a plenary session to ratify the revision of the Regional Election Law, Thursday (22/8), but the session was cancelled after the number of meeting participants did not have a quorum.
The Presidential Palace said the DPR and the government would follow the final rule, namely the Constitutional Court's ruling, if there is no ratification of the revised Pilkada Law by August 27.
Demonstrations broke out in Jakarta and several regions in Indonesia, demanding that the DPR follow the Constitutional Court's ruling regarding the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Elections.
However, the DPR through the Legislative Body is currently reviewing the revision of the Regional Election Law by following the rules of the Supreme Court, not the Constitutional Court, which has given rise to pros and cons among the public.
Police reportedly began pushing back the masses of demonstrators who were still around the parliament complex in Senayan at 19.00 WIB.
Protocol roads and inner-city toll roads in Senayan were completely paralyzed. (ge/dw/ft)
