DPR Values Constitutional Court Decision Regarding Thresholds To Avoid Empty Boxes

JAKARTA - Commission II of the DPR RI considers that the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) to grant the Pilkada Law lawsuit lowers the threshold for nomination of regional heads to avoid phenomena against empty boxes and transactional politics.

"I appreciate the Constitutional Court's decision which minimizes the possibility of candidates in the regional elections facing empty boxes. So that the simultaneous regional elections that will be held on November 27 will be more accountable and democratic," said member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives Guspardi Gaus, Wednesday, August 21.

The decrease in the party threshold in nominating regional heads was decided by the Constitutional Court through decision Number 60/PUU-XXII/2024. In this new regulation, the Constitutional Court changed the rules in Article 40 of the Pilkada Law which regulates the 20 percent threshold for obtaining DPRD seats or 25 percent of the accumulation of valid votes for the DPRD Legislative Election in the relevant regions.

With the Constitutional Court's decision, the threshold for submitting candidate pairs that will contest the Pilkada simultaneously changes from 20 percent to 6.5 percent to a maximum of 10 percent which is classified based on the number of Permanent Voter Lists (DPT) for each Province and Regency/City throughout Indonesia.

Through the new regulation of the Constitutional Court, it means that there will be many parties that have the opportunity to propose their own candidate pairs so that it is possible for the public to have many variations of candidates because political parties or coalitions of political parties can carry candidate pairs in the Provincial-level Regional Head Elections to Regencies and Cities based on the percentage of the Number of Permanent Voters List. Guspardi also assessed that the Constitutional Court's decision to avoid transactional political parties.

"The Constitutional Court's decision which decides how to nominate candidates from political parties in the Pilkada, will certainly be able to provide options for the many variants of candidates proposed by political parties because the provisions have a very positive impact," he explained.

"With this regulation, it means transactional by political parties that are not in accordance with democracy, hopefully it can be reduced," continued Guspardi.

With a threshold or threshold ranging from 6.5 to 10 percent, Guspardi assessed that this provides a more open opportunity for parties and candidate pairs to contest the election.

"The Constitutional Court's decision is an extraordinary breakthrough in efforts to create a more democratic election in various aspects," said the legislator from West Sumatra II.

"Paslon yang akan bertarung tentunya akan lebih banyak dan masyarakat juga memiliki ruang aspirasi dan pilihan yang lebih beragam dalam menentukan pilihannya untuk memilih calon kepala daerah," sambung Guspardi.

Commission II of the DPR in partnership with the KPU asked for immediate adjustments to the rules regarding the nomination of regional heads in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada. Guspardi emphasized that the KPU must immediately revise the KPU Regulation (PKPU) regarding the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors in order to be adjusted to the mandate of the Constitutional Court's decision.

"We ask the KPU to immediately adjust the rules to the Constitutional Court's decision," he said.

Guspardi revealed that Commission II of the DPR will hold a meeting with the KPU and representatives of the Government in the near future to discuss in more detail regarding the changes to the regulation considering that the registration of candidates who will compete in the Pilkada is only a matter of days.

"We at Commission II are ready to hold a meeting with the KPU and the government in order to change the PKPU. God willing, on Saturday, August 24 because Commission II has scheduled a consignment with the KPU to discuss PKPU on election logistics. We will discuss this latest Constitutional Court decision," explained Guspardi.

In the Decision Number 60/PUU-XXII/2024, the Constitutional Court also provided details of thresholds or thresholds that must be met by political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election to be able to register pairs of regional head candidates (gubernur, regents, and mayors).

Article 40 paragraph (1) of the Pilkada Law does not have binding legal force as long as it is not interpreted as a political party or coalition of political parties participating in the election can register candidate pairs if they meet the requirements to propose candidates for governor and deputy governor candidate. As well as candidates for regent and deputy regent as well as candidates for mayor and vice mayor candidate.

Not only about the threshold for candidacy, but the Constitutional Court also decided on a lawsuit regarding the age requirements for regional head candidates. The Constitutional Court rejected a lawsuit regarding the examination of the provisions for the minimum age requirements for regional head candidates as regulated in Article 7 paragraph (2) letter e of the Law on Regional Head Elections (Pilkada Law).

Regarding this regulation, the Constitutional Court emphasized that the age requirements for regional head candidates were calculated since the appointment of the person concerned as a candidate for regional head by the KPU. This confirmation of the Constitutional Court is in contrast to the legal interpretation carried out by the Supreme Court (MA) recently.

Through decision number 24 P/HUM/2024, the Supreme Court changed the terms of the candidate's age from previously calculated in the KPU Regulation (PKPU) when the candidate pair was determined, to be calculated during the inauguration of the elected candidate. The PKPU is a technical rule of the Pilkada Law.

The rules regarding the progress requirements for regional head candidates are contained in the Election Law Article 7 paragraph (2) letter e. The Pilkada Law regulates the mechanism for candidacy and the minimum age requirement of 30 years for governor and deputy governor candidate as well as 25 years for candidates for regent and deputy regent as well as candidates for mayor and mayor candidate.