ASN Ikhwan Mansyur Situmeang Sues Presidential Threshold Election Law To MK

ILLUSTRATION/DOCK Constitutional Court

JAKARTA - The state civil apparatus (ASN) Ikhwan Mansyur Situmeang has sued Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (Pemilu) relating to the presidential threshold or the 20 percent presidential nomination threshold.

"I am an individual citizen applicant who has the right to be elected but has the potential to be harmed because of the presidential threshold," said Ikhwan Mansyur Situmeang at the trial of case Number 7/PUU-XX/2022 which was held by the Constitutional Court virtually as reported by Antara, Monday, January 24.

In the trial, the applicant stated that the contents of the paragraph, article, or part of the Election Law contradicted the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, more specifically Article 222 of the Election Law against Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

As a citizen who has the right to vote and has the potential to be harmed by his constitutional rights, the applicant is of the opinion that the problem faced is regarding the threshold for presidential candidacy.

Article 222 imposes a presidential threshold which limits the number of presidential candidates. Therefore, he is of the opinion that the construction of the article has no consistency with Article 6A.

Meanwhile, Article 6A states that the threshold for presidential nomination is without a percentage or is open to political parties.

"If Article 6A and Article 222 are juxtaposed, then Article 222 undermines Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution," said Ikhwan Mansyur Situmeang.

According to him, Article 222 tends to bring up two pairs of candidates so as to create a simple competition or present a weak competitor.

Not only that, the coalition that emerged as a result of the presidential threshold was judged not to be programmatic.

"This coalition is also not competitive because it limits presidential candidates without considering citizens' rights," he said.