PDIP After The Constitutional Court Decision: Potential Empty Box 150 Regencies/Cities Reduce Drastically

PDIP Deputy Secretary General Adian Napitupulu/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - Deputy Secretary General of the PDI-P (PDIP) Adian Napitupulu believes that the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the threshold for nominating regional heads will reduce the potential for empty boxes to appear in many regions.

The Constitutional Court changed the threshold for nominating regional heads in the regional elections. The Constitutional Court allows parties not to have seats in the DPRD to participate in carrying regional head candidates.

The Constitutional Court also reduced the nomination threshold, which previously had 20 percent seats and 25 percent of the previous legislative elections.

"This is evidenced by the results of the Constitutional Court earlier, the potential for empty boxes in our estimate is around 140-150 districts/cities. But with this change in the Constitutional Court's decision, the number of empty boxes has greatly decreased drastically," said Adian at the PDIP DPP office, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, August 20.

According to Adian, voters to the 2024 Legislative Election will also be accommodated a lot because political parties that do not pass the DPRD can also carry regional head candidates.

"This means that many people's voices will be saved, because the calculation is not based on the composition of the seats, but on the composition of the votes," he said.

The panel of judges at the Constitutional Court granted part of the request for judicial review of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (UU Pilkada).

Where, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the previous election can nominate candidates for regional heads even though they do not have a DPRD seat.

The Constitutional Court stated that Article 40 paragraph (3) of the Unconstitutional Regional Head Election Law. Where, political parties or coalitions of political parties propose that pairs of candidates use the provisions to obtain at least 25 percent of the accumulated valid votes as referred to in paragraph (1), this provision only applies to political parties that get seats in the Regional House of Representatives.

Then, the Constitutional Court changed the contents of the article by stating that political parties or coalitions of political parties can register candidates if:

a. Provinces with a population of up to 2 million people on the voter list, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 10 percent in the province

b. Provinces with a population of more than 2 million people on the voter list, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 8.5 percent in the province

c. Provinces with a population of more than 6 million people to 12 million people, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 7.5 percent in the province

d. Provinces with a population of more than 12 million voters, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 6.5 percent in the province

Meanwhile, the requirements to propose a candidate for regent and candidate for deputy regent as well as a candidate for mayor and deputy mayor candidate:

a. Regencies/cities with a population of more than 250 thousand voters, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 10 percent in the district/city.

b. Regencies/cities with a population of more than 250 thousand to 500 thousand voters, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must obtain a valid vote of at least 8.5 percent in these districts/cities.

c. Regencies/cities with a population of more than 500 thousand to 1 million voters, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must obtain a valid vote of at least 7.5 percent in these districts/cities.

d. Regencies/cities with a population of more than 1 million voters, political parties or coalitions of political parties participating in the election must get a valid vote of at least 6.5 percent in the district/city.