The Government Is Considering Limiting Party Coalitions For Presidential Candidates Following The Constitutional Court's Decision

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Prisons Yusril Ihza Mahendra stated that the government will comply with the Constitutional Court's decision to eliminate the presidential threshold. He mentioned that the government plans to amend Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 regarding Elections, which currently requires presidential candidates to be proposed by political parties or coalitions that hold at least 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives. "The government will definitely change Article 222 and add a new article, allowing the 2029 Presidential Election to proceed without a threshold," Yusril said after attending a legal journalists' event in Central Jakarta on Friday, January 17, 2025.

Yusril explained that the Constitutional Court has set rules for candidate nominations in the 2029 Presidential Election, stating that no political party or coalition should dominate the nomination process. "For example, if there are 30 political parties and 29 form a coalition, there would only be two candidates. Or if one party takes all, that’s not allowed. The Court wants to prevent domination, but if we allow complete freedom, it’s unlikely to have 30 pairs of candidates," Yusril noted.

Therefore, he mentioned that the government is considering how to follow the Court's ruling by possibly introducing a maximum limit on candidate nominations. "We are thinking about how to implement this, perhaps allowing parties to join but limiting the coalition to a maximum of 20 percent. This way, if all parties join, there could be a maximum of five pairs of candidates," Yusril explained. "However, without a maximum limit, it could lead to just two pairs, with 29 parties joining one and one party refusing to cooperate. We are currently exploring the best approach for this," he added.

The Constitutional Court has removed the presidential threshold requirement through its ruling on case number 62/PUU-XXII/2024 regarding the review of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections. The previous rule stated that political parties or coalitions needed at least 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives or 25 percent of the national valid votes to nominate a presidential or vice-presidential candidate. This was outlined in Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017. "We declare that the norm in Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections is contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and has no binding legal force," said Chief Justice Suhartoyo during the session at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta on Thursday, January 2, 2025. Article 222 of the Election Law states, "Candidates are proposed by political parties or coalitions that meet the requirement of obtaining at least 20% of the seats in the House of Representatives or securing 25% of the valid votes nationally in the previous House of Representatives election."

Tag: Immigration Presidential Threshold Yusril Ihza Mahendra