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Jokowi gives nod for KPU to challenge court ruling
Analysts still unconvinced by President’s ‘vague’ support.
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Monday his administration would back the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) plan to appeal a “controversial” district court ruling ordering it to effectively postpone the 2024 elections, finally breaking his silence on the matter.
Debate has swirled ever since the Central Jakarta Court ruled last week in favor of a criminal lawsuit lodged by minnow party Prima, which alleges the KPU had prevented it from exercising its political right to contest in the upcoming polls. Jokowi was under increasing pressure to comment on the issue, lest he wanted to be deemed as benefiting from the suggestion of a potential election delay.
Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to Bandung, West Java, the President told reporters in a carefully worded response he supported a plan for election organizers to appeal what he considered a controversial ruling.
“As I have said time and again, the government is meeting its commitment to follow the election process. The budget has also been well prepared. I would think we are hopeful the election processes will continue,” he said, as quoted in a statement issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.
“It is indeed a controversy that has spurred debate on the pros and cons, but the government is also supportive of the KPU wanting to lodge an appeal,” Jokowi added.
Mochamad Afifuddin, coordinator for the election body’s legal division, said on Monday the KPU was currently preparing an appeal, although he did not specify when the motion would be filed at the Jakarta High Court, kompas.com reported.
The district court previously ordered the KPU to restart the election process, after its panel of judges deemed Prima had been denied an opportunity to submit the necessary requirements to participate in the 2024 polls.
In a video statement posted to the party’s social media accounts over the weekend, Prima chairman Agus Jabo Priyono insisted many of the party’s critics were “misguided” in understanding the intention of its lawsuit.
“[The lawsuit was lodged] not as an election dispute. We also understand a district court does not have jurisdiction over such matters. It was to [respond to] the KPU’s unlawful act of not granting us our political rights, as citizens who have formed a party, to participate in the general elections,” Agus said on Saturday.
The ruling angered many within the government and across the country’s wide political spectrum, including the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of which Jokowi is a member.
However, various members of the ruling coalition were also guilty of fueling debate over a potential election delay and even the expansion of presidential term limits in the past.
Matter of ethics
Separately, on Monday, a coalition of civil society organizations reported the district court’s bench to the Judicial Commission (KY) for alleged ethics violations in the judges’ ruling to delay the elections.
The coalition consists of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) election watchdog, the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK) and law firms Themis Indonesia and AMAR, commission spokesman Miko Ginting confirmed on Monday.
The Judicial Commission itself launched an ethics investigation of its own into the panel of judges, although it has yet to schedule hearings for the judges.
Miko also said the commission would focus on potential ethical violations and not the actual substance of the court ruling, which should be challenged through legal avenues.
Confusion abounds
Perludem’s executive director, Khoirunnisa Agustyati, said the coalition was confident the court ruling would easily be overturned, and the KPU would still be able to proceed as planned even if the legal proceedings dragged on, since the court’s ruling was not yet final and binding.
“It shouldn’t be difficult for the [Jakarta High Court] to grant the KPU’s appeal, as the [lower court’s ruling] not only goes against the constitutional mandate to hold an election every five years, but the district court itself does not have any jurisdiction on legal disputes pertaining to elections,” she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Furthermore, Khoirunnisa said while Jokowi’s support for the KPU was good, she also urged the President to guarantee no external political forces would interfere in the due legal process or in the KY’s investigation.
Meanwhile, Noory Okthariza, a political researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the damage from the court’s ruling had already been done.
“In the eyes of the public, there already is confusion surrounding [the 2024 elections]. Additionally, election organizers now have to continue their work amid legal uncertainty,” he told the Post on Monday.
Noory also said Jokowi’s statement had still been very vague, falling just short of saying he wanted the general election to proceed on Feb. 14, 2024.
“[Jokowi] picked his words carefully. While he said he wanted the election process to go on and he would support the KPU, he did not explicitly say [the voting day] itself would carry on as planned,” the analyst said.
