Ina Parlina – More people are turning to the Constitutional Court to challenge the 2008 Presidential Election Law, which they believe sets the bar too high for members of the public who want to run for the country's top office.

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD told reporters on Wednesday that it appeared the public no longer expected changes to come from members the House of Representatives, who were likely to retain the 20 percent presidential nomination threshold to minimize competition in the upcoming elections.

"Currently, many people see political parties as being high-handed. They believe they are controlled by a few elites. That's why many people challenge the Presidential Election Law."

On Wednesday, the court heard two different judicial review requests against the law, only a day after it rejected a similar request.

University of Indonesia political communications expert Effendi Gazali among those who want the law annulled. During the court hearing, Effendi told the court he knew the law had been reviewed before, but added that he was challenging it on different legal grounds.

He focused his criticism on Article 3 in the law, which stipulates that presidential and legislative elections should be held on different occasions. He argued that the original intent of the 1945 Constitution required that the two elections be held simultaneously for the sake of efficiency.

Therefore, the article requiring a political party or group of parties to control at least 20 percent of the seats in the House to nominate a presidential hopeful was unnecessary and should be scrapped.

Mahfud said the court was still studying Effendi's argument. "If accepted, it would change our political map. There will be no label of big or small party [in the presidential elections]. It will be a competition between political figures," he said after the hearing.

Labor activist Sri Sudarjo, another petitioner for the judicial review of the law, said the right to nominate a presidential candidate should not rest with political parties alone. She said labor group representatives should also be allowed to enter the presidential race too.