Constitutional Court Asked to Ban Presidential and Vice-Presidential Family Members from Candidacy
Citizens named Raden Nuh and Dian Amalia have filed a lawsuit against the General Election Law with the Constitutional Court (MK). They are requesting that the MK prohibit family members by blood or marriage of the president or vice president from holding office or running as candidates for president and/or vice president.
According to the MK’s official website, viewed on Wednesday (25 February 2026), the lawsuit is registered under case number 81/PUU-XXIV/2026. The two are challenging Article 169 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections.
The content of the article being challenged is as follows:
Article 169:
The requirements to become a presidential candidate and a vice-presidential candidate are:
to be devout to God Almighty;
to be a citizen of Indonesia from birth and never to have accepted another citizenship of their own volition;
the spouse of the presidential candidate and the spouse of the vice-presidential candidate must be citizens of Indonesia;
never to have betrayed the country and never to have committed acts of corruption or other serious crimes;
to be physically and mentally capable of carrying out the duties and obligations as president and vice president and to be free from drug abuse;
to reside in the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia;
to have reported their assets to the agency authorized to examine the asset reports of state officials;
not to be currently burdened with personal and/or corporate debts that are their responsibility and which harm state finances;
not to be currently declared bankrupt based on a court decision;
never to have committed disgraceful acts;
not to be currently nominated as a member of the DPR, DPD, or DPRD;
to be registered as a voter;
to have a taxpayer identification number and to have fulfilled the obligation to pay taxes for the last 5 (five) years, as evidenced by an annual income tax return;
never to have served as president or vice president for 2 (two) terms in the same position;
to be loyal to Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika;
never to have been sentenced to imprisonment based on a court decision that has become final and binding for committing a criminal act punishable by imprisonment of 5 (five) years or more;
to be at least 40 (forty) years old (amended by an MK decision to: to be at least 40 (forty) years old or to have held or be holding a position that is elected through general elections, including regional head elections);
to have at least completed senior high school, madrasah aliyah, vocational high school, madrasah aliyah kejuruan, or another equivalent school;
not to be a former member of the banned Indonesian Communist Party, including its mass organizations, or not to be a person directly involved in the 30 September Movement/PKI; and
to have a vision, mission, and program in carrying out the governance of the Republic of Indonesia.
The petitioners request that the MK:
- declare that Article 169 of the General Election Law is contrary to the 1945 Constitution and does not have binding legal force unless it is interpreted to mean that the requirements for nominating a presidential and/or vice-presidential candidate must be free from conflicts of interest arising from family relations by blood or marriage with the President and/or Vice President who are currently in office during the same term.
Reasons for the Petition
The petitioners state that as voters, they may not have the opportunity to freely choose their preferred presidential candidate if a family member of the president or vice president is in office and running as a candidate. According to the petitioners, this would place them in a position of supporting nepotism.
“At the very least, the petitioners are considered to be giving legitimacy or agreeing with the practice of nepotism, which is a violation of applicable law, because in the preferred presidential and vice-presidential pair, one of them is either the perpetrator or at least someone who benefits from the practice of nepotism,” said the petitioners.
The petitioners say that the current article allows for the presence of presidential election contestants who are relatives of the current president or vice president. According to the petitioners, this is a practice of nepotism.
“In a broad sense, nepotism essentially applies to very specific situations, namely when someone uses their position to gain an advantage, often in the form of a job for a family member,” said the petitioners.