Political party

Jakarta –

The Constitutional Court (MK) did not accept Eliadi Hulu et al’s lawsuit regarding the term of office of the chairman of a political party being limited to a maximum of 2 terms. MK Judge Arief Hidayat agreed with the decision, but filed concurring opinion.

“In general, I agree with the opinion of the majority of judges who state that the Petitioners do not have legal standing in filing a petition. a quo,” said constitutional judge Arief Hidayat in a trial at the Constitutional Court which was also broadcast via account channel YouTube, Your (31/7/2023).

But Arief Hidayat has a different reason (concurring opinion) in addition to the reasons outlined in the Constitutional Court’s decision. According to Arief Hidayat, the sovereignty of a political party is in the hands of the political party itself.

“Moreover, political parties are political infrastructure so that party sovereignty exists and is absolutely determined by political parties,” said Arief, who is also a professor of constitutional law from Undip, Semarang.

The Law on Political Parties has provided a clear definition of the meaning of the statutes (ad) and bylaws (ART). Article 1 point 2 of the Political Party Law states:

The Articles of Association of a Political Party, hereinafter abbreviated as AD, are the basic regulations of a Political Party.

Meanwhile, Article 1 point 3 states:

Bylaws of political parties, hereinafter abbreviated as ART, are regulations formed as an elaboration of AD.

“From this provision it becomes clear that the AD functions as a constitution for the governing political parties rules of the games and the fundamental organizational principles of a political party, while the ART functions like a law which is the elaboration of AD. Therefore, the design of legal politics in the Political Party Law is to continue to provide space for political parties to determine their own rules of the game as outlined in the AD and ART as the highest law and the elaboration of this highest law,” explained Arief Hidayat.

Setting the term of office for chairpersons of political parties directly or indirectly has the potential to reduce the sovereignty of political parties as one of the pillars of democracy Arief Hidayat, Constitutional Court Judge

The action to determine the term limit for the chairperson in a law can be considered as making a fundamental change to the constitution of a political party, the intended change should be regulated in the AD and ART and is the domain of political parties to determine it.

“Setting the term of office for chairpersons of political parties directly or indirectly has the potential to reduce the sovereignty of political parties as one of the pillars of democracy,” explained Arief Hidayat.

In other words, according to Arief, let the term of office of the general chairman of each political party be regulated in the provisions of the respective AD and ART in accordance with the needs and conscience of all political party officials and members without the intervention of legislators.

“This does not mean that there is no democratization in the structure of political parties. Because basically the democratization of every political party remains in every process of the National Conference or in other terms the rules of the game are determined in the AD and ART of each political party as the highest law that must be obeyed by its members,” concluded Arief.

As is well known, Eliadi et al requested that the term of office of the chairman (ketum) of a political party (parpol) be only 2 terms. The article being sued is Article 23 paragraph 1 which reads:

The replacement of the management of political parties at every level is carried out in accordance with the AD and ART.

Eliadi Hulu et al requested that the article be amended to:

The replacement of the management of political parties at every level is carried out in accordance with the AD and ART, specifically for the general chairman or other designations, the AD and ART must regulate the term of office for 5 years and can only be re-elected 1 time for the same position, either consecutively or not consecutive.

(asp/zap)

2023-07-31 10:35:27


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