Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto: The Enforcement of Constitutional Rights in the Covid-19 Pandemic Era
Dr. Sakka Pati, SH., MH

Hasanuddin University

Abstract

The regional election in Indonesia is a manifestation of the elaboration of democratic principles as a constitutional right. The fourth batch of regional elections in 2020 has rolled out. However, ahead of the grand event, the implementation of the regional election reaps pros and cons among the public and health observers, considering the cases of Covid-19 is still rampant and eyeing public safety. This research is a normative legal research using a statute approach and a conceptual approach. The results showed that the simultaneous regional election received a rejection from several societies because it was considered to have the potential to become a new cluster of Covid-19 transmission. Hence, to respect the human rights of every citizen, the government is obliged to assess the safety of the people in the 2020 election, bearing in mind the principle of salus populi suprema lex esto, which means that people^s safety is the highest law.

Keywords: Covid-19, Human Rights, Constitutional Rights, Election

Topic: Human Rights