Jakarta (ANTARA) – Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Bambang Soesatyo, has said that the 2024 elections should run on schedule, with the balloting scheduled for February 14.He opined that the Central Jakarta Court’s ruling asking the General Elections Commission (KPU) to halt electoral preparations is in contravention of the Constitution and Law No. 7/2017 on Election.

The 1945 Constitution has stipulated that general elections would be held every five years, Soesatyo said in a statement received here on Friday.

“The general elections must be held on schedule as stipulated in the Article 22E of the Constitution,” he affirmed.

Soesatyo then called upon the election organizers to proceed with the electoral preparations in accordance with the agreed road map.

The MPR Speaker made the statement in response to the Central Jakarta Court’s ruling that the KPU must halt the ongoing electoral process.

Soesatyo said that the district court does not have the authority to settle electoral disputes, according to Articles 470 and 471 of the Election Law.

“Lawsuits or disputes regarding KPU’s decision in the process of political party verification would be handled by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the State Administrative Court (PTUN),” he elaborated.

In addition, the law does not regulate nationwide election delays, but opens the chance to conduct late elections in certain critical situations.

“As stipulated in Article 431 of Law Number 7/2017, election delay is possible when there is a riot, security disturbance, and natural disaster,” he pointed out.

Soesatyo called upon the Central Jakarta Court to respond to the KPU’s appeal without delay to prevent any disturbance to national stability.

“It should give fast response to the appeal so that the case would not spark a polemic, which furthermore would degrade public trust and participation in the 2024 general elections,” he said.

Earlier, on Thursday (March 2, 2023), in response to a lawsuit filed by the Prima Party that challenged KPU’s decision to disqualify the party from contesting the 2024 general elections, the Central Jakarta Court ruled that the commission must halt the ongoing process.

KPU declared that the Prima Party failed to pass the administrative verification process and would, therefore, be unable to participate in the elections.

The court also ordered the KPU to restart the entire election process in the next 28 months.

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Source: Antara News