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Constitutional Court removes presidential threshold, Said Iqbal optimistic about laborer candidacy

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Tempo - January 3, 2025

Eka Yudha Saputra, Juli Hantoro, Jakarta – President Labor Party Said Iqbal welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court or MK, which abolished the presidential nomination threshold provision or presidential threshold of 20 percent.

He said this decision allows all political parties participating in the 2029 elections, including the Labor Party, to nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates without collaborating with other political parties.

Said Iqbal said that with this decision, in the 2029 General Election, the Labor Party could propose its presidential candidate without entering into a coalition with other political parties.

"This is the awakening of the working class. We are the working class," Said Iqbal said in a written statement on January 2, 2025.

Said Iqbal emphasized that this decision was an important milestone for Indonesian democracy because it returned sovereignty to the people. Through this decision, said Iqbal, healthy democracy has been revived.

"Now, a factory worker has the same opportunity to run for president or vice president in the 2029 presidential election, as has happened in Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, England, Finland, Sweden and Peru," he said.

The Constitutional Court, through Decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024, has canceled the provisions of Article 222 of Law 7/2024, which regulates the minimum percentage threshold for proposing a presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair (presidential threshold). All political parties participating in the upcoming 2029 elections have the right to propose or carry a presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair.

Iqbal said the Constitutional Court's decision is final and binding without exception, including for the government and the DPR. So that the government and DPR cannot "revive" the article or "outsmart" it by making revisions to the Constitutional Court's decision.

The Constitutional Court, in its legal considerations, said Article 222 of Law Number 7 Year 2017 was not only considered contrary to the political rights and sovereignty of the people but also violated morality, rationality, and injustice that were intolerable and contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

"This reason is the basis for the Court to shift from its stance in previous decisions related to the judicial review of the presidential nomination threshold," Iqbal said.

According to Iqbal, the Court's decision does not only concern the amount or percentage of the threshold, but what is far more fundamental is that the presidential threshold regime, regardless of the amount or percentage, is contrary to Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, stated that the government respects the Constitutional Court's decision to cancel the presidential threshold requirement.

Yusril explained that after the three Constitutional Court Decisions Number 87, 121 and 129/PUU-XXII/2024, which canceled the existence of the threshold for nominating a Presidential and Vice Presidential pair, the government will certainly internally discuss the implications for the regulation of the implementation of the Presidential Election in 2029.

"If changes and additional norms are needed in the Election Law due to the elimination of the Presidential Threshold, then the Government will certainly work on it together with the DPR," Yusril said in his official statement yesterday. "All stakeholders, including the KPU and Bawaslu, academics, election activists and the public will certainly be involved in the discussion later."

On Thursday, January 2, 2024, the Constitutional Court panel of judges officially removed the 20 percent presidential threshold provision through case 62/PUU-XXII/2024. Chief Justice Suhartoyo said the norms of Article 222 of Law Number 7/2017 on General Elections, State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Year 2017 Number 182, and State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6109 are entirely contrary to the 1945 Constitution. In addition, the regulation is also considered to have no binding legal force.

Constitutional Court Judge Saldi Isra added that the determination of this threshold also violates morality and rationality, creates injustice that cannot be tolerated, and is contrary to the 1945 Constitution. This is why the Constitutional Court shifted from the stance of the previous decision.

"The shift in stance does not only concern the magnitude or number of threshold presentations but what is far more fundamental is the threshold regime for proposing presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs," said Saldi Isra.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1959627/constitutional-court-removes-presidential-threshold-said-iqbal-optimistic-about-laborer-candidac

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