Democrat Party Responds to Presidential Candidate Limitation Scenario Issue
The Secretary-General of the Democrat Party, Herman Khaeron, has said he knows nothing of an alleged scenario to restrict presidential and vice-presidential candidacies through the Election Bill.
The issue was previously raised by the Democrat Party’s Deputy Chairman, Benny K Harman, in an opinion column in a national newspaper.
Herman stressed that the Democrat Party has never discussed the idea of restricting the presidential election within the Election Bill, saying the party has not formally deliberated the matter.
“The Democrats have never discussed that, because there has simply been no discussion. It is a constructed opinion — although people may keep referring to Pak Benny, feel free to ask Pak Benny where his source came from,” Herman said after a party event in the Senayan area of Jakarta on Wednesday (8 July).
He said the party was unaware of Benny’s sources for the article, including its purpose, and reminded all parties to wait for the official process in the House of Representatives (DPR).
According to him, various opinions inevitably emerge during the drafting of legislation, but the public should not take them as fact since formal deliberation of the Election Bill has not yet begun.
“So I think it is normal in political discussion for various opinions to emerge, but do not treat them as certainties, because we have never discussed anything at all to this day,” Herman said.
Nevertheless, Herman said the Democrat Party is pushing for the bill to be deliberated as soon as possible, adding that deliberations must allow ample space to accommodate the aspirations of all parties.
“We should not rush into decisions. But if the DPR’s collective decision is to begin deliberations in early 20027, then that is a political reality we must all follow,” he said.
Wake-up call
Benny previously raised the issue of an alleged scenario to restrict presidential and vice-presidential candidacies in the Election Bill through his opinion piece in a national newspaper on 21 June.
He claimed that if the scenario were true, presidential and vice-presidential tickets could only be nominated by a minimum of three parliamentary parties.
The scenario drew attention because it could contravene the Constitutional Court’s ruling that struck down the threshold for presidential and vice-presidential nominations.
“There are strong indications that the upcoming electoral regulations are deliberately designed to restrict the people’s right to choose the nation’s highest leader,” Benny wrote.
“One of the most dangerous ideas being floated concerns restricting presidential and vice-presidential candidates, whereby only candidate pairs backed by a minimum of three parliamentary political parties would be allowed to compete,” he added.
He described his article as a wake-up call for the public to scrutinise the bill, saying he feared a hidden agenda in the deliberation process — particularly the possibility of the Election Bill being rushed through to pre-empt judicial review at the Constitutional Court.
“So there would be no reason, no time, no opportunity for the people to file for judicial review, and then the Constitutional Court would have no time to examine and strike it down,” he said.