The Petitioner’s legal counsel Francine Widjojo explaining the subject matter at the preliminary hearing of the material judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (4/3/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a judicial review hearing of Article 169 letter q of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Monday, April 3, 2023. The case No. 29/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), Anthony Winza Probowo, Danik Eka Rahmaningtyas, Dedek Prayudi, and Mikhail Gorbachev (Petitioners I-V).

Article 169 letter q of the Election Law reads, “Requirements that must be fulfilled by a Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate are as follows: at least 40 (forty) years of age.”

Through Francine Widjojo, the Petitioners asserted that the Petitioners were currently thirty-five years old and requested that the lowest age limit for presidential tickets be set at thirty-five with the assumptions that they had enough experience to run in the election. They argued that the norm was discriminatory and against moral and rational values and in violation of Article 28D paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution.

“While in principle, the state provides the nation’s youth with the opportunity to lead the nation and offers the widest opportunity so that the best candidates of the nation can run in the election. Therefore, the object of the petition is a discriminatory provision since it violates moral [values]. When the Indonesian people are forced to only choose leaders that meet a discriminatory requirement, this leads to injustice for the Indonesian people and the selected [candidates],” Widjojo said before Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra, Arief Hidayat, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Court grant the entire petition and declare Article 169 letter q of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “at least 35 (thirty-five) years of age.”

Justices’ Advice

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat highlighted that the part on legal standing and constitutional impairment had not followed the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021. Petitioner I, he said, is a political party who has not had a legislative representative as it has not met the parliamentary threshold.

“Can a political party that has not met the parliamentary threshold file [a petition]? To propose a presidential ticket, [a party] must meet requirements. Then, have the individual petitioners factually been nominated by any political party?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul stated that the political party must mention that its statute/bylaw stipulates that the chairman and secretary-general have the right to represent it in filing the petition. He also advised Petitioners II-V, who are individuals, to explain their legal standing.

Next, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said that the individual petitioners had not mentioned their dates of birth, which would help the justices review their age.

Before adjourning the session, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra informed the Petitioners that they had 14 days to revise the petition and must submit it by Monday, April 17 at 13:00 WIB to the Registrar’s Office.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Tiara Agustina
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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