Legal Literacy - This article discusses the closed proportional electoral system and the open proportional electoral system. Changes to the system in the context of a constitutional democracy play a crucial role in ensuring the protection and continuous advancement of democratic principles. If these changes support the democratic process, they will consolidate the stability of the democratic system as a whole. However, it is important that these changes are carried out through an open, inclusive and participatory process, respecting constitutional principles and democratic values. In this case, the change needed is the transition from an open proportional election system to a closed proportional election system. This aims to maintain the continuity of function and development democracy constitutional.

Fritz Edward Siregar's View at the Election Law Testing Hearing

At the hearing on the judicial review of the General Election Law (Election Law) Number 7 of 2017, Fritz Edward Siregar, an expert constitutional law from the Indonesian Jentera School of Law, presented his views. Held in the Plenary Session Room of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday (5/4/2023), the hearing was related to Case Number 114/PUU-XX/2022. In this hearing, Fritz became one of two experts invited by the applicant. Fritz, who was a member of the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) for the 2017-2022 period, explained the complexity of the process of collecting, counting and recapitulating votes. He highlighted the complexity and potential for errors in voting which requires voters to choose candidates from a list of names. This can result in invalid votes. In the 2019 Election, as many as 17,503,953 votes were considered invalid or around 11.12% of the total votes. Fritz also observed that the vote counting process took a long time because the use of an open proportional system required recording the candidate or party number in the correct column. Fritz highlighted the potential for manipulation in vote counting, particularly related to recording the names of candidates or parties. In addition, he noted the phenomenon of vote transfers between candidates in one party at the Polling Station (TPS) during the vote recapitulation process.

The Challenge of Money Politics and Fritz's Views on the Election System

Fritz also revealed that money politics is a serious problem in general elections. In the 2019 Election, there were 69 court decisions related to criminal violations related to money politics. Many literatures, both from within and outside the country, explain the negative impact of money politics on the election process. Fritz believes that to overcome the practice of money politics, changing the election system to a closed proportional system is an effective step. In a meeting with the Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Saldi Isra, and seven Judges Constitutional, Fritz expressed his views.

Agus Riewanto's Opinion and Justification for Changes to the Election System

Agus Riewanto, a lecturer in constitutional law from the Faculty of Law, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, gave his views in an online trial. According to Agus, the open proportional election system which determines elected candidates based on the most votes is not in line with the constitution and can be considered unconstitutional. He argued that this system degrades the role of political parties in the context of a democratic country. Agus acknowledged that the open proportional election system has an impact on politics that is more focused on individuals or candidates. This encourages voters to choose popular and wealthy candidates, ignoring the political parties they represent. He emphasized that the serial number of legislative candidates does not guarantee that the legislative candidate will be elected in the election. Agus criticized the open proportional election system because it encourages political parties to compete in recruiting popular and wealthy legislative candidates without considering party ideology and structure. This results in elected legislative candidates representing themselves more than the political party they represent.

Supporting Changes to the Election System for a More Stable Democracy

Overall, the change from an open proportional election system to a closed proportional election system is an effort to improve and enhance the principles of democracy in a constitutional democracy. The opinions of legal experts such as Fritz Edward Siregar and Agus Riewanto support the justification for this change with the aim of overcoming challenges such as money politics, weaknesses of political parties, and the election of candidates that are more focused on figures than political parties themselves. The hearing on the judicial review of the Election Law and the considerations of these experts reflect efforts to create a more effective, transparent and in accordance with the principles of democracy and the constitution election system.