The four applicants wished to nominate themselves for the then-upcoming elections of regent and deputy-regent of Pidie, Bireun, Aceh Timur, and Simeulue respectively in 2011. Article 256 of Law No. 11 of 2006 on the Governance of Aceh, however, required that individual/independent candidates in regional head elections be nominated by a political party or coalition. In other words, art 256 precluded the nomination of independent candidacy. Therefore, pursuant to art 50 of Law No. 24 of 2003 on the Constitutional Court, the applicants sought to challenge the constitutional validity of art 256 of Law No. 11 of 2006 on the grounds that it contravened arts 18(4), 27(1), 28D(1) and (3), and 28I(2) of the Indonesian Constitution. The applicants also claimed that art 256 contravened art 43 of Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights, which reiterated and elaborated upon art 28D(3) of the Constitution, in regards to every Indonesian citizen being entitled to be elected to a position of political office.
The court acceded to the application, finding art 256 of Law No. 11 of 2006 in contravention of the aforementioned constitutional guarantees and, therefore, rendered it null and void.