Discourse on Presidential and Vice-Presidential Nominations Requiring Minimum Two Fractions Re-emerges
The discourse regarding the limitation of presidential and vice-presidential nominations through the revision of Law Number 7 of 2017 on Elections does not appear to have faded. Following comments made by the Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party, Benny K. Harman, the idea has now been voiced by the Chairman of the NasDem Party, Surya Paloh.
Previously, the issue raised by Benny had been widely refuted by both parliamentary factions in the DPR and the government. At that time, Benny noted there were rumours of a scenario where presidential nominations could only be conducted by a minimum of three parliamentary parties.
A similar sentiment has now been expressed by Paloh. Although not identical, Paloh claimed to have heard that, through the Election Bill, presidential nominations could only be carried out by a minimum of two parliamentary parties.
“I have heard clear input that the model for presidential support should be based on a minimum of two factions,” said Paloh on Saturday (19/9).
According to Paloh, this proposal is essentially the same as the current rule regarding the 20 per cent presidential nomination threshold, which existed before the Constitutional Court (MK) abolished it. Nevertheless, he emphasised that NasDem does not object.
“In my view, that is fine; it is essentially the same. If the parliamentary threshold is high, then the support from two factions would also represent a high number of votes,” he said.
Responding to this, the Chairman of the PDIP Central Executive Board, Deddy Yevry Sitorus, stated that he did not wish to speculate. He remarked that all parties must wait for the academic manuscript of the Election Bill.
Deddy stated that his party would have no issue with the proposal, given that Indonesia adheres to a presidential system. He noted that a presidential candidate without support from parties in parliament would face difficulties in governing.
“Imposing a requirement for two supporting parties for a candidate, in my view, is practically not a problem. Because our country adopts a presidential system, a presidential candidate without support from parties in parliament will struggle to run the wheels of government,” he said.
The Constitutional Court (MK) abolished the 20 per cent presidential threshold last year, ruling it unconstitutional. The MK viewed that the application of such thresholds had limited the constitutional rights of citizens to have alternative candidates in presidential elections, as contestants were consistently dominated by candidates from specific parties.
“Whatever the size or percentage, it contradicts Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia,” stated the Deputy Chairman of the MK, Saldi Isra, while reading the court’s decision.