Hasyim: New Parties Can't Register Presidential And Vice Presidential Candidates With KPU

Chairman of the Indonesian KPU Hasyim Asy'ari when giving a statement in Jakarta, Thursday (12/10/2023). ANTARA/Narda Margaretha Sinambela

Chairman of the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari said political parties that had just participated in their first election in 2024 could not be administratively registered as a coalition to register presidential and vice presidential candidates at the Indonesian KPU. "The new political party as a participant in the 2024 General Election has not been able to be part of a political party or a combination of political parties that can propose a presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate, because they do not have a seat or do not have a vote, because they have never participated as election participants," said Hasyim when met by media crews in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Thursday, October 12. The four new political parties that officially participated in the 2024 General Election, namely the National Awakening Party (PKN), the Indonesian People's Wave Party (Gelora), the Labor Party and the Ummat Party. This is regulated in Articles 1 number 27-30, 221, 222, 226, 325, and 342 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (UU Pemilu). The consequences received by the four parties are that the symbol cannot be included in the 2024 presidential election ballot. When referring to the Election Law, the presidential election ballot design contains a political party image that is administratively registered at the KPU as the proposer or applicant for the presidential and vice presidential candidates. Hasyim said the four new political parties could not be included in the list of political parties that contributed to the campaign funds for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. According to him, if there are political party leaders who want to contribute to the 2024 presidential election campaign funds, they are personal, such as individuals or like a group of people. This is also regulated in Article 325 paragraph (2) letter b of the Election Law stipulates that the campaign funds for pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates are obtained from political party funds or coalitions of political parties that propose presidential and vice-presidential candidates. In addition, political parties participating in the 2019 Election who did not qualify as participants in the 2024 General Election were also unable to propose or register presidential and vice presidential candidates with the KPU in 2024. "What is the matter? The person concerned is not an election participant. If the image is in the presidential election ballot, it will confuse people. 'He is not an election participant, how come the image is put in the design of the presidential election ballot'," he said. However, this rule only applies as an administrative requirement for registering presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the KPU. Hasyim stated that there is no prohibition on political parties from forming a coalition to support certain presidential and vice-presidential candidates outside administrative provisions. This condition is different from the Hanura Party, Garuda, PSI, Perindo, PBB. Although they do not have a seat in the DPR, the five political parties can be administratively joined into a combination of political parties that register presidential and vice-presidential candidates at the KPU. The five parties also participated in the 2024 Legislative Election and in the 2019 Legislative Election obtained a national valid vote which could be the basis for calculations to propose presidential and vice presidential candidates.

The requirements of political parties or coalitions of political parties that can be registered administratively to register presidential and vice-presidential candidates must meet the requirements for participating in the 2019 and 2024 Legislative Elections and fulfill 20 percent of the seats in the DPR RI/25 percent of the national valid votes.