TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Suhartoyo decided to consolidate the hearings for the 2024 presidential election dispute cases lodged by two losing candidates, Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md.

The decision was made during the initial hearing at the MK building today, March 27. The first hearing focused on the preliminary examination of the applications.

Anies' national campaign team and Ganjar's national campaign team attended the first hearing separately. The hearing for Anies' election dispute began at 08:00 WIB (Western Indonesia Time), while that of Ganjar was scheduled for 13:00 WIB.

Suhartoyo announced that the hearings would resume on Thursday, March 28. The agenda will include the responses of the respondents and other relevant stakeholders.

The suggestion for a joint trial was originally put forward by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the legal representative of presidential candidate pair number 02, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming.

On March 20, the General Elections Commission (KPU) declared Prabowo-Gibran as the victor of the 2024 presidential election. Anies and Ganjar alleged widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls.

Yusril argued that it would be time-consuming to prepare for two separate trials. He also proposed that the trials be held in the afternoon rather than the morning.

“We object if the trials continue in the morning because the copy from the applicant has not been received and the trials’ schedule is set differently so it requires preparation time,” said Yusril.

Chief Justice Suhartoyo then agreed with the proposal. Furthermore, he granted applicants the opportunity to submit additional evidence, as long as it is done during working hours.

The Constitutional Court also imposed limits on the number of witnesses who can testify before the court. Each witness will be allotted 15 minutes, while each expert will have 20 minutes to present their testimony during the hearings.

HENDRIK YAPUTRA

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