Unconstitutional authority of Indonesia's constitutional court: The resolution of pilkada result disputes

Abstract

Since the Era Reformasi, Indonesia has continued to progressively take shape as a young democracy. Among the most evident democratic development processes in Indonesia are the elections for the heads of local government. These elections, or "Pilkada," have been a topic of conversation and controversy for the national government since 2002, and, most recently, the national government amended the local election laws to mandate that all Pilkada be synchronized by the year 2024. While this initiative is complicated enough, it also further complicates a preexisting jurisdictional debate over election issues in the courts. Specifically, the authority to hear disputes over the results of the Pilkada currently lies with the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, but the Court has a ruling that deems this authority unconstitutional. Based on the country's national political structure, the national legislature has to implement this decision into statutory law to give it full effect. To date, the national legislature has not taken the steps necessary to do so. With so much controversy surrounding the Pilkada in Indonesia, this article attempts to explain how the local elections are structured, what a result dispute really is, and how the Constitutional Court is currently handling the cases. Most importantly, this research identifies how the political structure of the country creates a gap between constitutional interpretation and legislative implementation. The research for this article was a combination of exploratory and empirical, with support from Pusat Studi Konstitusi (PUSaKO) of Fakultas Hukum Universitas Andalas as well as the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. This article is meant to be an in-depth description of the local election structure, with an analysis of the legal issues that arise from jurisdiction over the result dispute cases. Therefore, the article begins with a brief explanation of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia followed by an explanation of the election process itself. The article then shifts to focus on how the Court handles the disputes, with data from the Court as well as interviews from sitting Justices of the Constitutional Court. The article then concludes with an analysis of the major legal issues that remain.