Expert's Opinion on Lawsuit Banning Family Members of President and Vice President from Running in Presidential Election

A lawsuit has emerged, requesting the Constitutional Court (MK) to prohibit family members of the President or Vice President from running as presidential or vice-presidential candidates. An election law expert stated that the lawsuit deserves consideration.

Initially, Titi Anggraini, a lecturer in Election Law and Constitutional Law at the University of Indonesia, stated that kinship relations with the incumbent often create serious problems. Many cases show that family ties are often accompanied by deviations and abuses of power, including the mobilization of state resources, the lack of neutrality of the authorities, and the distortion of the competitive arena.

According to Titi, this lawsuit should be seen as an effort to ensure that the competitive arena remains fair. The goal is not to restrict rights arbitrarily, but to ensure that political competition is based on ideas, not on the privileges of power.

“In that context, I see that this request has a basis for argumentation that deserves to be considered constitutionally,” Titi explained to reporters on Thursday (December 26, 2026).

According to her, the urgency of the lawsuit prohibiting family members of the President and Vice President from running in the Presidential Election is very high, given that the Election Bill is currently being discussed, and the stages of the upcoming elections will also begin soon. Constitutional certainty, according to Titi, is important so that lawmakers do not formulate norms that could potentially lead to conflicts of interest, unfair competition, or delegitimization of the electoral process in the future.

“Therefore, the MK’s decision, whatever form it takes, will be an important reference for the design of future election laws and will also ensure that the principles of fair competition and electoral integrity are maintained,” said Titi.

Titi said that the current legal framework is not strong enough to prevent nepotism, especially because there is no regulation that explicitly anticipates conflicts of interest arising from family power relations with the incumbent. Moreover, with the cadre and political recruitment system within parties not yet running democratically, the space for the reproduction of power based on kinship becomes very open.

This situation, she explained, is very risky and in several regional elections has shifted competition from merit and ideas to privileged access to power. In the long run, this will further weaken internal party democracy, narrow the circulation of elites, and reduce the quality of political representation.

“Therefore, the debate about the limitations on conflicts of interest of incumbent family members should be placed in the context of maintaining fair competition, strengthening the democratization of parties, and protecting the rights of citizens to obtain a truly competitive, free, fair, and democratic election,” she added.

Previously, a citizen named Raden Nuh and Dian Amalia filed a lawsuit against the Election Law with the Constitutional Court. They requested that the MK prohibit family members of the President or Vice President from running as presidential and/or vice-presidential candidates.

As seen on the official MK website on Wednesday (February 25, 2026), the lawsuit was registered with case number 81/PUU-XXIV/2026. The two are suing Article 169 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections.

The petitioners requested that the MK:

• declare Article 169 of the Election Law inconsistent with the 1945 Constitution and have no binding legal force unless it is interpreted that the requirements for nomination as president and/or vice president must be free from conflicts of interest arising from family relations with the President and/or Vice President who is currently serving in the same term of office.