Ina Parlina, Jakarta – In the first hearing on bringing forward simultaneous elections to 2014 on Tuesday, the Gerindra Party failed to come up with a strong argument against the recent Constitutional Court ruling.

The court ruled that legislative and presidential elections be held simultaneously from 2019 and Gerindra petitioned for simultaneous elections to start this year.

Many have slammed the Gerindra petition given that the court's ruling is final and binding, and could not be challenged in such a way.

Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto is among those who will benefit most if the court grants the petition to hold simultaneous elections this year and scrap the presidential threshold.

Court justice Muhammad Alim criticized Gerindra for filing the petition: "Where is the legal ground to file this petition?"

"As you know, in the Supreme Court a judicial review has to be overseen by a different panel of judges," Muhammad said. "So how can a judicial review be conducted if all the eight justices presided over the original case?"

Gerindra lawyer Habiburokhman earlier argued that the Constitutional Court law, which gave it the authority to adjudicate disputes on the interpretation of national laws, actually opened room for such a judicial review, citing that even the Supreme Court recognized such a mechanism for a judicial review.

He also argued that "having simultaneous elections in 2019 while still holding separate presidential and legislative elections in 2014 was a contradiction." Muhammad told Habiburokhman that a transitional phase was normal.

In its previous ruling over a petition on simultaneous elections filed by political communication expert Effendi Ghazali, the court insisted that the simultaneous presidential and legislative elections could only start in 2019 because immediate changes would disrupt the ongoing election preparations.

Presiding justice Arief Hidayat also told the Gerindra lawyer not to misinterpret his media statement that a court ruling could be challenged. "I said justices could change their views over time, but not on the same cases," he said. Don't use my quote from the media, the statement may not be complete, just read the whole statement in my scientific paper."

Recently, a former law and human rights minister and presidential hopeful from the Crescent Star Party (PBB) Yusril Ihza Mahendra also questioned why the court was yet to hear his petition again after the first hearing in late January, saying it was "unusual".

Yusril filed a similar petition to Effendi's, which demanded that simultaneous elections be held this year. "The court seems to be deliberately delaying the judicial review, while the campaign session for the legislative election starts on March 16," he said. "It seems that the ruling on Effendi's petition will be enforced after all. That also means that the presidential threshold will remain valid."