W

ith the Constitutional Court (MK) ruling to uphold a threshold requirement for political parties seeking to nominate presidential candidates, Indonesian voters will again see fewer options in the 2019 elections.

While government officials say the ruling is good for democracy, critics argue that limiting the number of candidates to no more than four pairs would actually be a blow to democracy.

“[The threshold] damages democracy because the nomination system would result in only two presidential candidates [in 2019]. It restricts [electoral] competition, which is not fair in an election,” Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) researcher Fadli Ramadhanil told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The retained presidential threshold is stipulated in Article 222 of the 2017 Elections Law, which says the requirement would simplify the country’s multiparty system and strengthen the presidential system.

The article stipulates that political parties must control 20 percent of the House of Representative, equal to 112 seats, or have won 25 percent of the popular vote in the 2014 legislative election to field a presidential candidate.

The government, including Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, welcomed the ruling, saying that the threshold would create political stability as the elected president would have strong political support at the House.

However, Fadli questioned the argument, arguing that in the past three presidential elections, the winners always moved to consolidate power at the House after they were elected.

“The key [to political stability] is in how a president can continuously communicate with the House and create a strong cabinet. We can’t strengthen the presidential system [by imposing a presidential threshold],” he said.

“A general election should provide alternative candidates for voters instead of limiting the chance for voters to choose [presidential] candidates.”

Similarly, constitutional law expert Feri Amsari of Andalas University in West Sumatra said the threshold damaged the principle of fairness in an electoral contest, which in fact, was ensured under the 1945 Constitution.

“According to the Constitution, even small parties have the right to nominate their own presidential candidate and it will be up to the people to choose which one [candidate] is eligible to become president,” Feri said.

Justice Saldi Isra and Suhartoyo, two out of nine justices of the court who offered dissenting opinions in the case, said the requirement was no longer relevant. Suhartoyo argued that maintaining the threshold based on the outcome of the 2014 legislative elections meant maintaining the unconstitutional.

In 2014, not a single party won more than 20 percent of the popular vote and parties had to form coalitions to nominate candidates. Only two candidate pairs, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, and Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa, took part in the presidential election that year.

Several parties in the ruling coalition, namely the Golkar Party, the NasDem Party, the Hanura Party and the United Development Party (PPP), which together controlled 182 seats at the House, have endorsed and secured a ticket for Jokowi to run in the 2019 presidential election.

With the threshold intact, the country would likely see history — in the form of the 2014 legislative election — repeat itself, with Jokowi going head-to-head against Gerindra Party patron Prabowo, said Charta Politika political analyst Yunarto Wijaya.

“We will see a similar competition to that in 2014, and the [coalition] of parties will not change too much, except for only several parties,” Yunarto said, adding that the neutral Democratic Party could endorse either camp.

Gerindra deputy secretary-general Andre Rosiade said the party would maintain its alliance with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) for the 2019 elections. The parties had already secured their right to field a presidential candidate as they controlled a combined 113 seats at the House.

Andre went on to say that Gerindra cadres were committed to nominating Prabowo next year.

“We are optimistic; it depends on whether [Prabowo] is willing to be nominated.”