Professor Simon Butt: The Constitutional Court and Elections

The Constitutional Court has been firmly in the headlines in Indonesia over the past month, because of its role in adjudicating – and dismissing – Prabowo Subianto’s challenge to President Joko Widodo’s victory in the 2019 presidential election. But the influence of the Constitutional Court in shaping the outcome of Indonesian elections is much broader – through various of its decisions, it has reshaped various important aspects of Indonesia’s electoral systems. Indeed, it was a decision of the Constitutional Court that required the presidential and legislative elections to be held on the same day for the first time in 2019. What rights and requirements does the Indonesian Constitution set down for elections, and how has the Constitutional Court interpreted these? Should we be surprised at the degree of change the Court has required to Indonesia’s electoral system? What grounds also did the Prabowo camp advance to challenge Jokowi’s victory, and how did the Court consider them? Are changes required to the process for the Court to hear electoral disputes ahead of the next round of elections in 2019. In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dave McRae discusses these issues with Professor Simon Butt, Director of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney Law School and author of The Constitutional Court and Democracy in Indonesia. The Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the Singapore Management University and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University. Photo Credit: Dhemas Reviyanto for Antarafoto