Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto with Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams and Suhartoyo opening the panel judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (3/14/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Monday, March 14, 2022 | 23:05 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The provision on presidential threshold in Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was challenged in the Constitutional Court (MK). The petition for case No. 20/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by Adang Suhardja, Marwan Batubara, Ali Ridhok, and Bennie Akbar Fatah. The preliminary hearing for the case took place on Monday, March 14, 2022.

The Petitioners challenge Article 222 of the Election Law, which reads, “A presidential candidate ticket shall be nominated by a political party (or a coalition thereof) contesting in an election that has managed to win at least 20% (twenty percent) of DPR seats or 25% (twenty-five percent) of national valid votes in the previous election of members of the DPR.”

At the hearing, which was chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto, legal counsel Herman Kadir said on behalf of the Petitioners that the threshold set by Article 222 of the Election Law is in violation of Article 6 paragraph (2), which reads, “The requirements of being the President and Vice President shall be further stipulated by virtue of law.”

“Interpreted systematically and grammatically, the presidential-vice presidential candidacy requirement should have referred to Article 6 of the 1945 Constitution, especially Article 6 paragraph (2),” he said.

In addition, Herman added, it would not be accurate to call the presidential threshold an open legal policy. It is a closed legal policy because the 1945 Constitution has determined the restrictions and requirements for the candidacy.

He further stressed that in formulating the 20 percent seat or 25 percent votes requirement based on the previous election, the legislatures did not base it on the fulfillment of the people’s right to vote or to get as many choices of presidential candidates.

The Petitioners believe that in formulating the presidential threshold, the legislatures should not have used the voting mechanism but should have involved all elements of society (especially those disagreeing with the presidential threshold) and accommodate the minority within the parliament proportionally.

In the petition, the Petitioners also argued that in a democracy, every decision cannot only be based on the majority vote without respecting or fulfilling the people’s (electorate) right to more and quality presidential tickets. In determining the presidential threshold, the legislatures tend to base it on political interests (eliminating opposition) and not on the electorate’s interest and for the substantial development of democracy.

Justices’ Advice

Responding to the petition, Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams recommended that the Petitioners’ profiles be mentioned. The petition’s format, he said, was important as each of the Petitioners must argue their constitutional impairment.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo said that the Petitioners’ argument on the legal standing challenged the Court’s in its decision, in that only political parties have legal standing. In addition, in the posita, the Petitioners argued that the presidential threshold must be a closed legal policy.

“From the arguments on legal standing and the posita, the Petitioners actually conveyed that they did not agree with what the Court had ruled. However, I would add, especially relating legal standing and the posita, that the arguments conveyed today could affect the Court’s previous decisions, especially on those matters. [It depends on] how the Petitioners can explain that not only political parties have legal standing [in such a case] but also the electorate,” he explained.

Before concluding the hearing, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto gave the Petitioners 14 workdays to revise the petition. The revised petition must be received by the Registrar’s Office by Monday, March 28, 2022. 

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Muhammad Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/15/2022 11:09 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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