2 Constitutional Court Judges Have Different Opinions Regarding The Lawsuit For The Age Limit Of Presidential And Vice Presidential Candidates

JAKARTA - Two Constitutional Court (MK) judges stated that the dissenting opinion or dissent on decisions that rejected the judicial review regarding the minimum age limit for presidential-cawares candidates proposed by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI).

The first difference of opinion was expressed by the Constitutional Court Judge Suhartoyo. Suhartoyo assessed that the requirements to become presidential and vice-presidential candidates were an inherent requirement of the legal subject concerned.

Suhartoyo concluded that PSI, which is a party, cannot question the clause of Article 169 letter q of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections regarding the age limit of presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

"Thus, the applicants do not have any assumption of loss, both actual and potential," Suhartoyo explained in the courtroom of the Constitutional Court building, Central Jakarta, Monday, October 16.

"Therefore, the defendants are irrelevant to be given the legal standing position in the a quo application and therefore the Court should emphasize that the a quo application does not meet the formal requirements and declares the petition of the applicants unacceptable," he continued.

Then, a different opinion was also expressed by the Constitutional Court Judge Guntur Hamzah. Instead, Guntur views that requests for judicial review related to the age limit of PSI's presidential and vice presidential candidates should have been partially granted.

"The petition of the petitioners should have been partially granted, so that article a quo is declared conditionally unconstitutional," said Guntur.

According to him, the determination of the presidential/cawapres age limit is not regulated in the constitution but is in an interpretation area based on the principles of constitutionalism and guarantees of the constitutional rights of citizens.

"Stating the age limit for presidential or vice presidential candidates is not only placed within the framework of legal policies, but this is related to a clear constitutional order in determining the right age to become a presidential or vice presidential candidate," he said.