Legal Expert: Changing The Age Requirements For Presidential And Vice Presidential Candidates Is Not The Authority Of The Constitutional Court

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JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) will soon decide cases related to the terms of the minimum age of the Presidential Candidate/Cawapres. Legal expert from Gajah Mada University (UGM) Oce Madril reminded the agency to maintain its credibility as a constitutional guard.

Oce assessed that the decision to be issued by the Constitutional Court basically involved 2 issues, namely that the minimum age requirement for the Presidential Candidate/Cawapres was lowered to 35 years or added to the condition of 'experiencing as a state administrator or regional head'. According to the lecturer at the UGM legal faculty, the case that will be decided by the Constitutional Court is very controversial because it relates to the registration of presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates which will soon be opened by the KPU.

Oce explained that based on various previous Constitutional Court decisions, the institution has emphasized that the issue of constitutionality of the minimum age requirement for a person to run as a public official is an open legal policy (opened legal policy). The open legal policy (opened legal policy) itself means that determining the minimum age requirements for public officials is the full authority of the legislators, namely the DPR and the government, not the authority of the Constitutional Court.

"The 1945 UUD does not regulate the number or condition of age of a public office. Various types of public office in government, the age requirements are regulated in law. Especially with regard to the Presidential Election, the 1945 Constitution has regulated in Article 6 paragraph (2) that the requirements for becoming President and Vice President are further regulated by law," said Gajah Mada University Law Expert, Oce Madril to VOI, Thursday, October 12.

He added that in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, it has regulated the requirements of the Presidential/Cawapres Candidate. In the provisions of Article 169 it is determined that one of the requirements for Presidential/Cawapres can be at least 40 (fourty) years old. So it is clear, the age requirements determined by the Election Law are a delegation regulation of Article 6 of the 1945 Constitution. "If the Constitution changes the minimum age requirements of the Presidential Candidate/Cawapres or adds new conditions, such as experiencing as state administrators or regional heads', of course this violates the open legal policy principles emphasized in various Constitutional Court decisions. Even further, it can be said that it violates Article 6 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution which has ordered that the terms of the Presidential Candidate/Cawapres are regulated in the Election Law," he said.

That there is a new Constitutional Court decision that deserves to be considered in considering this case, namely the Constitutional Court's decision No. 112/PUU-XX/2022 which relates to the minimum age requirement of 50 (fifty) years to be able to run for KPK Leadership. In this decision, the Constitutional Court does not change the minimum age requirement, but adds the condition that someone who has served as a KPK leader, then can re-nominate to become a KPK leader in the second period, even though he is less than 50 years old. "From the decision no. 112/PUUU-XX/2022, it can be concluded that the Constitutional Court does not change the minimum age to become a KPK leader who has been determined in the KPK Law. That the Constitutional Court does add new terms, but these conditions are very limited only valid for KPK leaders who are in office if they want to re-nominate as KPK leaders in the second term. These new conditions do not apply to the public, so they are very specific," he said. "Thus, it can be said that until now the Constitutional Court is actually still consistent with its establishment regarding the age terms as an open legal policy (open legal policy policy of policy) determined by law, not by the Constitutional Court's decision. If later the Constitutional Court changes its establishment in the decision related to the minimum age of the Presidential Candidate/Cawapres, then of course the Constitutional Court can be considered soluble in the political dynamics of the Presidential Election which has recently been witnessed by the public widely," he said.