Regional Heads Under 40 Years Old Can Be President-Cawapres Candidates In The 2024 Election

The trial for the pronunciation of decisions/decisions at the Constitutional Court (MK) Building of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Monday (16/10/2023). BETWEEN/Fath Putra Mulya

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) has now allowed regional heads under the age of 40 to become presidential and vice-presidential candidates. This is based on the obscenity of the judicial review lawsuit Article 169 letter q of the Election Law regarding the age limit of presidential and vice presidential candidates aged at least 40 years proposed by a UNS student named Almas Tsaqibbirru Re A. The case Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 requested by Almas asked the Constitutional Court to change the nomination requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates to the lowest age of 40 years or experience as regional heads, both at the provincial and district/city levels. Constitutional Court Judge Guntur Hamzah emphasized that this decision had taken effect in the implementation of the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections. "The provisions of Article 169 letter q of Law 7/2017 as referred to in the a quo decision apply starting in the General Election of the President and Vice President in 2024 and beyond," said Guntur in the Court Building courtroom, Monday, October 16. According to Guntur, this is important to emphasize by the Court so that there is no doubt in determining the requirements for the minimum age of presidential and vice presidential candidates after this decision is read out. Furthermore, Guntur views that the permission of presidential and vice presidential candidates under the age of 40 as long as they have experience as regional heads will not harm the presidential and vice presidential candidates aged 40 years and over. This is because the age requirements in the presidential and vice presidential candidates must be based on the principle of providing opportunities and eliminating restrictions (to give opportunity and abolish restriction) rationally, fairly, and accountably. "The principle of giving opportunities and eliminating restrictions must be applied by way of opening up a wider, fair, rational, and accountable contest space to the nation's best sons, including the millennial generation while at the same time weighting fair legal certainty within the framework of a living constitution," explained Guntur. "Thus, if one of the two conditions is met, then an Indonesian citizen must be seen as fulfilling the age requirements to be proposed as a presidential and vice presidential candidate," he continued.