The Constitutional Court Rejects 'Presidential Threshold' Assessed For Design Of The 2024 General Election

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Scientists from the University of Muhammadiyah Kupang, Dr. Ahmad Atang, said that the rejection of the Constitutional Court (MK) related to the threshold for presidential nominations or the 20 percent presidential threshold could secure the 2024 election design. "With the rejection of a lawsuit related to the threshold or presidential threshold by the Constitutional Court, it can secure or not interfere with the 2024 election design," he said, quoted from Antara, Saturday, October 1. He said this was related to the Constitutional Court's decision to reject the lawsuit for testing Law Number 7/2017 concerning General Elections related to the 20 percent presidential threshold proposed by the Prosperous Justice Party. He said the Constitutional Court's decision could secure the 2024 election design with a 20 percent presidential nomination threshold. If the PKS lawsuit is granted by the Constitutional Court, he said, it is certain that every political party can apply for a presidential candidate if it meets the requirements of seven to nine percent. "If that's the case, you can imagine how many pairs of presidential and coalition candidates will become narrow and selfish, the party will become very open, especially if there will be dichotomy for small parties and big parties in parliament," he said. He said that when viewed from the reason the Constitutional Court for rejecting the lawsuit from PKS, because the law is a political product of the DPR, including the determination of the 20 percent presidential threshold, it must go through political channels if there is a desire to reduce the threshold. At this point, according to him, the Constitutional Court seems to have thrown off its responsibilities and seemed to be washing hands against the presidential threshold polemic in question. As an institution that has the authority to try legal polemics, he said, the position of the Constitutional Court should provide a legal fatwa on a legal product that is opposed, not a procedural argument. "If so, then the Constitutional Court is not in a position to break up the deadlock of legal products that is becoming a public conflict," he said. He further said that PKS as a political party should fight for the presidential threshold through political channels in the DPR because within the institution there is the right of PKS. "If the 20 percent presidential threshold decision passes and has been stipulated as a law, then PKS has failed to fight for it," he said. He considered that the PKS lawsuit was more of a effort to please the constituents solely, because PKS actually wanted to cover up its failure in the political process in the DPR.