Want 0% Presidential Trend For Presidential Election, Democrats Want To Candidate For AHY?

ILLUSTRATION / Plenary Hall of DPR (Diah Ayu / VOI)

JAKARTA - The DPR Democrat Party faction wants the presidential candidate threshold or presidential threshold to be 0 percent. That way, presidential candidates can run without the support of a minimum party seat limit in parliament.

There were allegations that the Democrats would nominate their general chairman, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, from the proposed 0 percent presidential nomination threshold. However, this was denied by the Deputy Secretary General (Wasekjen) of the Democratic Party DPP, Irwan.

"That assessment (AHY's efforts to advance) is not true. For the Democratic Party the main thing is how the political and legal choices to be taken are rational, constitutional and guarantee the people's sovereignty," said Irwan to reporters, Friday, January 29.

According to Irwan, the 0 percent presidential threshold proposal in the Election Bill (RUU) will make the public more free to vote because there is a possibility that presidential candidates who register during the presidential election will be increasingly diverse.

"People have the right to vote and be elected. The more choices (presidential candidates) the better. That is the real sovereignty of the people," said the member of Commission V DPR.

For that reason, according to Irwan, the presidential threshold issue is not just numbers, but is a reflection and a result of the aspirations of the Indonesian people.

"So that the presidential threshold does not mean the limitation of the people's sovereign rights, but in the framework of strengthening the party, election and presidential system," he added.

For information, the Election Law requires that one of the requirements for a presidential candidate to participate in the presidential election contest is to be carried by a minimum of 20 percent of the total seats in the DPR. This requirement has been implemented in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections.