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Indonesian govt reacts to top court's removal of presidential threshold

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Tempo - January 3, 2025

Tempo.co, Jakarta – The Indonesian government said it's reviewing the Constitutional Court's decision to abolish the presidential threshold, said Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas, claiming it necessary as the court did not have a timeline set to enforce the ruling.

"The government will of course coordinate to process the ruling, as I have not read it as a whole," he said on Thursday, January 2, as quoted by Antara.

The government, nevertheless, remains of the view that the Constitutional Court's decision is final and binding. The Gerindra Party politician emphasized that his party did not question the content of the decision, but notes that the court abolished the presidential threshold, in contrast to previous decisions to lower it.

Therefore, Supratman said that the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Home Affairs would communicate the Constitutional Court's decision with election organizers.

The government and the parliament will also discuss the revision of Election Law to harmonize with the court ruling.

The minister said he could not confirm whether the decision would have a positive impact on democracy, but he said the government will respect the ruling.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya Sugiarto said the revision of the Election Law and Regional Election Law in the omnibus law on politics will refer to the Constitutional Court's ruling on the presidential threshold.

The former mayor of Bogor said the ministry, as a representative of the government, would communicate with Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives regarding the Constitutional Court's ruling.

"Yes, we will soon begin discussing the revision of the Election Law and Regional Election Law," 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.

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.

– M. Raihan Muzzaki and Antara contributed to the writing of this article.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1959710/indonesian-govt-reacts-to-top-courts-removal-of-presidential-threshol

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