Review requests rejected

JAKARTA: The Constitutional Court stated on Thursday that it would not review Law No. 23/2003 on the presidential election because the plaintiffs were not affected by the law and thus were not legally in a position to file a complaint.

According to the court, the group of people -- activist Fathul Hadie Ustman, lecturers Mursyidah Thohir and Hamdanah, private company employee Swandoko Soewono and civil servant Thohir Afandi -- were not eligible to file the request because their constitutional rights were not being directly violated by the law.

The plaintiffs have alleged that Article 5 paragraph 3 and Article 4 -- which deals with the registration of presidential and vice presidential nominees and the presidential election schedule -- contradicted the Constitution.

The articles say that presidential and vice presidential candidates must be named by a political party or coalition before the legislative election.

They also argued that the separation of the legislative and presidential elections is prone to conflicts. -- JP