Ministerial advisor for economy and development La Ode Ahmad Pidana Bolombo testifying on behalf of the President at a judicial review of the Election Law, Monday (12/11/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Another material judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, December 11, 2023. The case No. 129/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by advocate Gugum Ridho Putra, who challenges 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, the Government, represented by advisor for economics and development of the Ministry of Home Affairs La Ode Ahmad Pidana Bolombo, emphasized the urgency of the presidential threshold to strengthen the presidential system and that its application in the election can lead to a president and vice president with strong support. This is because they will have a large support in the parliament, so that the implementation of the government will be stable and effective.

This condition can strengthen the presidential system adopted by Indonesia and make the performance of the president as the executive in governance more effective.

“The presidential threshold is being implemented to improve governance effectiveness. If the condition is met, elected president and vice president may be proposed by a political party or coalition of political parties who do not have the majority of seats in parliament. If this occurs, as an executive institution the president is likely to face challenges in administering the government due to potential [pushback] from the majority coalition in parliament,” Bolombo said.

He went on to say that the presidential threshold, as stipulated in Article 222 of the Election Law, is a requirement for a candidate pair to be proposed by a political party or a coalition of political parties participating in the election who obtain parliamentary seats of at least 20% of the total number of DPR seats or obtain 25% of national valid votes in a democratic, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair election. As a result, the party meets these standards through a democratic process exercised by the sovereign electorates. This demonstrates that the party nominating a presidential ticket has widespread voter support. This is the initial support; the real support will be shown by the outcomes of the presidential and vice-presidential election. Thus, from the beginning of the nomination process, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who would be elected are backed by the people through political parties in order to acquire more support through the election.

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At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner conveyed that Article 222 is contrary to Article 1 paragraph (2); Article 6A paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5); and Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. Article 222 could potentially cause legal uncertainty and allows for a super-dominant coalition that can lock the presidential election to only two candidate pairs or a single candidate pair. Based on this provision, every party or coalition of parties that wants to endorse a presidential ticket must have 20% of DPR seats or have acquired 25% of votes in the previous legislative election. Political parties might form coalitions only to fulfill this minimum requirement for the nomination of president and vice president.

“Article 222 of the Election Law only regulates the lower threshold for [presidential] nomination without regulating the upper limit, which allows parties to form coalition and gathering as many seats and votes as possible without limit. As a result, it could potentially cause two conditions: a coalition of political parties that potentially forms a super-dominant coalition and leaves minority coalitions of smaller parties, so the presidential election is only joined by two pairs of candidates; or the presidential and vice-presidential election could be joined by only a single candidate pair or presidential ticket if one of the two candidate pairs, especially the minority coalition, is disqualified for not meeting the KPU requirements,” the Petitioner explained.

Moreover, the Petitioner also emphasized that the enforcement of Article 222 of the Election Law, which does not regulate restriction on the presidential ticket nomination, is contrary to the principle of constitutionalism or limitation of power. This is because the lack of a limit means that a party coalition can collect as many seats and votes as possible without any restrictions. The greater the number of seats or votes collected, the greater the coalition’s potential power to form a super-dominant coalition, so there is higher potential of abuse.

For this reason, in his petitum, the Petitioner requests the Court to declare Article 222 of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if it is not interpreted to mean “A presidential candidate ticket nominated by a coalition of political parties shall not exceed 40% (forty percent) of DPR seats or 50% (fifty percent) of national valid votes in the previous election of members of the DPR.”

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
Translator  : Nyi Mas Laras Nur Inten Kemalasari/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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