SMRC Survey: The Public Majority Value Of The Constitutional Court's Decision Is Unfair, In Order To Pass Gibran Cawapres

Constitutional Court/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - The survey institute Saiful Mujani Research Center (SMRC) released a public opinion poll regarding the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the age limit for presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

As a result, more respondents thought that the Constitutional Court's decision to allow regional heads not yet 40 years old in the presidential election was determined to pass Gibran Rakabuming Raka to become vice presidential candidates for the 2024 General Election. The majority also considered it unfair.

The founder of SMRC, Saiful Mujani, explained that initially respondents were asked whether or not the Constitutional Court's decision allowed regional heads to be not yet 40 years old as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

"The survey results show that 41 percent of residents who know the Constitutional Court have decided that someone can become a presidential / vice presidential candidate if they have or are being elected officials through general elections or regional head elections even though they are not 40 years old. Those who don't know are 59 percent," Saiful explained in SMRC TV's YouTube show, Friday, November 10.

Of the percentage who knew about this decision, 55 percent also knew that the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court before being dismissed, namely Anwar Usman, was Gibran's uncle. The other 45 percent did not know.

From the public composition that knows that Anwar Usman is Gibran's uncle, 61 percent considers that the Constitutional Court's decision to pass Gibran as a vice presidential candidate. Only 24 percent considered it not for Gibran to be vice presidential and 15 percent did not answer.

"According to the public nationally, the Constitutional Court's decision was made really to fulfill Gibran's hopes or wishes to become a vice presidential candidate," explained Saiful.

On the other hand, from those who knew that Anwar Usman was Gibran's uncle, only 34 percent said the decision was fair and 60 percent said it was unfair. There is still 6 percent who did not answer.

The majority of residents considered that the Constitutional Court's decision was unfair. The Constitutional Court's decision that people who have been public officials and elected by the people may become presidential/cawapres candidates even though they are not 40 years old is considered unfair because Gibran's uncle, Anwar Usman, participates as a judge in the court and makes the decision," he explained.

For information, this survey was conducted from October 29 to November 5, 2023 with field interviews with all Indonesian citizens who have the right to vote in the general election.

A sample of 2400 respondents was randomly selected (strateted multistage random sampling) from that population. The response rate (respondents who can be interviewed validly) was 1939 or 81 percent. The survey margin of error with the sample size is estimated at approximately 2.3 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.