T

he Constitutional Court has dashed any hope for minor parties to play a major role in the presidential election after it ruled on Thursday to uphold the presidential threshold, a controversial rule that restricts the eligibility of a political party to field a candidate for the top executive post.

The verdict came only two months after the court ruled to change the current setup of holding the legislative and presidential elections on separate dates to having just one Election Day. This change goes into effect in 2019, as the court said with the legislative election set for April and the presidential for July, it was too late in the game to make a change this year.

The wording of that ruling issued in January actually nixed the presidential threshold, but because the decision does not apply until the next election five years from now, there was still a challenge to see it thrown out this year.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the plaintiff who filed the judicial review against the threshold rule, said there was no legal grounding in the 2008 Law on the presidential election to limit the field to parties that secured 20 percent of House of Representatives seats or 25 percent of popular votes in the legislative election.

The Constitutional Court'€™s decision to keep the rule on the presidential threshold intact, at least for this year, came as no surprise, as the panel of justices had earlier turned down the same motion several times. It seems more in line with democratic spirit to toss the rule, however, since it prevents talented politicians from small parties from vying to lead the nation.

Before 1999, Indonesia had never really elected a president, as the head of state was always uncontested. The presidential election in 1999 saw two candidates run, but the winner was not necessarily the choice of the people but of the elite. A direct presidential election was first held in 2004, but the search for the ideal leader has always been limited.

That the last two presidential elections featured mostly old faces, or specifically party leaders, however, indicates political parties'€™ failure to groom future national leaders. Rampant corruption involving state officials only shows that political parties have been unable to live up to their billing as the institutions responsible for supplying the right persons for the right public positions.

Not only the plantiff Yusril, who is the presidential aspirant from the Crescent Star Party (PBB), but other presidential hopefuls will now have to walk extra miles to help their respective political parties meet the threshold. Even then, it'€™s a long shot a minor party will make it onto a presidential ticket.

Some of the major parties, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, have announced and promoted their presidential candidates. The choice now goes to the voters. They will decide at the April 9 poll which candidates should qualify for the presidential race, thanks to the threshold rule.