YLBHI: The 2024's Presidential Election Postponement Will Disrupt The Nation's Democracy Structure

JAKARTADAILY.ID - Muhammad Insur, the chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said that the proposal of election postponement would violate not only the constitution but also endangers the nation's democracy.

"The plan of election postponement is [actually] violating the constitution as [attached] in Article 7 Jo 22 E paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia which stated two must-followed principles, which are the respect for the civil and political rights of citizens as well as restrictions on political power," said Isnur.

Muhaimin Iskandar, or Cak Imin, the chairman of Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB), was the first to suggest the proposal of 2024's election postponement, on February 23, 2022, after welcoming the micro small and medium enterprises in an event.

Cak Imin explained that the entrepreneurs' doubts during the authority transition would cause uncertainty in the economy and business sector. Hence, he suggested the 2024's election be postponed for one to two years. Furthermore, he'll bring this suggestion to President Jokowi.

Not long after, on February 24, 2022, the chairman of the Golongan Karya party and the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartanto, claimed to hear the aspirations of farmers for another period of Jokowi's presidential. Airlangga promised to discuss the suggestions with chairmen of other parties.

Besides PKB and Golkar, the Partai Amanat Nasional also supports the suggestion of 2024's election postponement through its chairman, Zulkifli Hasan.

He supports the idea under five reasons, which are: the ongoing COVID-19, the recovering economy, global issues - such as Russia-Ukraine conflicts-, the high cost of the election that reaches Rp180-Rp190 trillion, and plenty of delayed infrastructure development.

However, PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto emphasized that his party rejected the election postponement request. According to Hasto, PDIP follows the 1945 constitution, which regulates presidential period culture and concerns political instability.

Besides PDIP, the Demokrat party also denies the idea, as expressed through their chairman, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, or AHY.

According to AHY, the plans are "ridden" by individuals afraid to lose their power. He underlined that the citizens wouldn't support such an idea to happen.

The article was translated from Pikiran-Rakyat.com's article titled "YLBHI: Penundaan Pemilu 2024 Rusak Tatanan Hukum Demokrasi".

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