URGENSI PEMBENTUKAN PENGADILAN AD HOC PENYELESAIAN SENGKETA PEMILIHAN KEPALA DESA

Abstract

Settling disputes over Village Head Elections (Pilkades) is essential for ensuring legal certainty and democratic legitimacy at the village level. However, Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages and its implementing regulations still contain unclear norms regarding the authorized institutions and procedures for resolving such disputes, resulting in suboptimal legal protection for disputing parties. This study analyzes the mechanism for resolving Pilkades disputes from the perspective of legal certainty and examines its resulting legal consequences. Using normative legal research with statute, conceptual, and case approaches, this study analyzes primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials qualitatively. The results show that the regulation of Pilkades dispute resolution remains vague and contains a legal vacuum, particularly the absence of a special (ad hoc) court expressly authorized to resolve such disputes. Consequently, dispute resolution is often delegated to regional heads or local governments, creating potential conflicts of interest and reducing the independence of the resolution process. This weakens legal certainty, diminishes public trust in village-level democratic processes, and risks triggering social conflict. Therefore, regulatory strengthening is necessary through establishing a clear, firm, and independent dispute resolution mechanism, either by creating a special judicial institution or affirming the authority of existing institutions, to ensure legal certainty, justice, and democratic legitimacy in Village Head Elections.

Kata kunci: village head election dispute, legal certainty, village, dispute resolution, local democracy.