Jakarta Secretary General (Sekjen) of the Golkar Party DPP, Muhammad Sarmuji, described the Constitutional Court’s (MK) decision to abolish the minimum threshold for the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential pairs (presidential threshold) as a surprising ruling. This decision was read by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra on Thursday, (20/7/2024).
According to him, the Constitutional Court had previously always rejected the removal of the presidential threshold because it was considered important to support the functioning of the presidential system in Indonesia.
“The Constitutional Court’s decisions on the previous 27 lawsuits have always been rejected.” “In its 27 decisions, the perspective of the Constitutional Court and the lawmakers has always been the same,” said Sarmuji as quoted by Antara.
Sarmuji has not yet provided further comments regarding the steps taken by the Golkar Party in following up on the MK’s decision.
Previously, the Constitutional Court decided to remove the provision for the minimum percentage threshold for the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential pairs (presidential threshold) in Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections. The reason is that the article is considered to be in conflict with the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
Granting the petitioners’ request in its entirety, said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Suhartoyo while reading the verdict of Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024 in the MK Plenary Courtroom, Jakarta, Thursday.
The deleted article contained the requirements for the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, which must be supported by a political party or a coalition of political parties that hold 20 percent of the seats in the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) or obtained 25 percent of the valid national votes in the previous Legislative Election.
The removal of the presidential threshold has the potential to pave the way for independent candidates to run in the presidential election. This decision by the Constitutional Court will certainly have a significant impact on the political landscape of Indonesia and needs to be further examined by all parties.
The government reviews the Constitutional Court’s decision on the elimination of the presidential threshold.
The government is studying the Constitutional Court’s (MK) decision regarding the removal of the minimum percentage threshold for the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential pairs or the presidential threshold.
Minister of Law (Menkum) Supratman Andi Agtas said that training is necessary because the Constitutional Court (MK) has not yet announced the implementation date of the decision.
“On the other hand, the government will certainly coordinate regarding this matter, because I haven’t read it in full,” said Supratman in Jakarta, Thursday (2/1/2025).
Nevertheless, he emphasized that the government still views the Constitutional Court’s decision as final and binding.
According to him, usually the Constitutional Court determines the effective date of the ruling. However, in the ruling regarding the presidential threshold, he stated that the Constitutional Court has not yet determined it.
The Minister of Law emphasized that his side does not question the content of the decision, but only sees that the Constitutional Court has truly abolished the presidential threshold, unlike the previous decision which lowered the threshold.
“But whatever the decision of the Constitutional Court, because it is final and binding, we will review and conduct a study on when it will take effect.” Well, the Constitutional Court, as far as I can see, hasn’t decided on that yet,” he said, as quoted by Antara.
Therefore, Supratman stated that the Ministry of Law (Kemenkum) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) will communicate the Constitutional Court’s decision to the election organizers.
In addition, he continued, the government and parliament will also discuss the decision in the amendment of the Election Law.
The reason is, he said, that in the end, if the decision is related to the implementation of the election, there will be some changes to the laws or the General Election Commission Regulation (PKPU), so everything will be aligned.
Leave a Reply