Constitutional Court Begins Hearing Challenge to Political Parties Law Filed by PBB Faction Led by Gugum Ridho Putra
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Constitutional Court (MK) has begun hearing a material judicial review petition against Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties (Parpol), filed by the Central Executive Board (DPP) of the Star and Moon Party (PBB) resulting from the VI Congress in Bali.
Constitutional judges held the preliminary hearing for the material review of the Political Parties Law in the MK building courtroom, Jakarta, on Monday (4/5/2026).
According to ANTARA, the PBB filing this petition is the faction led by General Chairman Gugum Ridho Putra and Deputy External General Secretary of PBB Dega Kautsar Pradana.
“I declare the preliminary hearing for case number 146/PUU-XXIV/2026 related to the political parties review open and open to the public,” said Enny while striking the gavel three times.
In the hearing, the constitutional judges’ panel invited the petitioners to present the main points of their petition.
In this case, the articles challenged by the petitioners in the Political Parties Law concern the authority of the Minister of Law in approving changes to the composition of party leadership at the central level.
In their petition, the review targets the word “mengesahkan” (approve) in the provisions of Article 7 paragraph (1) and the word “pengesahan” (approval) in the provisions of Article 7 paragraph (2), as well as the phrase “keputusan menteri” (minister’s decision) in the provisions of Article 23 paragraph (3), Article 7 paragraphs (2) and (3), and Article 4 paragraphs (3) and (4) of the Political Parties Law, and the provisions of Articles 32 and 33 against Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 28, Article 28D paragraph (1), and Article 28E paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution.
According to Gugum, his side submitted a request for approval of changes to the DPP PBB leadership composition to the Minister of Law on 9 March 2026. However, on 12 March 2026, another party submitted a similar request based on the results of the Party Council Deliberation (MDP).
“We request that the Minister of Law’s approval authority be changed to mere recording authority. Why? Because that is the core issue that we believe will continue to be a problem for political parties in the future,” said Gugum.
Gugum stated that the current approval authority for changes in party leadership composition held by the Minister of Law allows them to determine who is entitled and who is not to be approved as leaders.
“Whereas who is entitled or not can be determined by the political party itself because they know best. Secondly, the authority to determine validity lies with the courts, not the executive (Minister of Law),” he explained.
In this preliminary hearing, after listening to the main points of the petition, the panel of constitutional judges provided inputs for improvements to the petition materials challenged by the petitioners.