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BREAKING: Court nixes threshold for presidential elections
The court has declared the presidential nomination threshold as unconstitutional in a ruling issued during its first hearing of the year, which comes after last year's decision to annul the electoral threshold for regional head elections.
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Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo (center) presides over a hearing at the court in Jakarta on Sept. 12, 2024, regarding a petition for judicial review on the minimum age of leadership candidates for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
T
he Constitutional Court issued on Thursday a ruling to abolish the nomination threshold for political parties and alliances of parties in all future presidential elections.
The ruling states that the presidential nomination threshold, which requires political parties to have won 20 percent of seats in the national legislature or 25 percent of votes in the prior legislative election as stipulated in the 2017 General Elections Law, contradicts the 1945 Constitution.
"We can accept the petition in its entirety that Article 222 of Law No. 7/2017 on general elections runs counter to the 1945 Constitution, and declare the stipulation is now null and void," Chief Justice Suhartoyo said on Thursday during the hearing, the court's first of 2025 following the year-end break.
The ruling refers to four separate petitions from pro-democracy activists and students to contest the legality of the presidential nomination threshold.
The court's surprise decision on Thursday came only months after it annulled the electoral threshold for political parties to nominate candidates in regional head elections.
Pro-democracy activists hailed the ruling ahead of the 2024 elections in November, saying it would deal a blow the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) in its efforts to cobble together a broad alliance to quash opposition candidates.
