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Small, medium parties hail presidential nomination threshold removal
The Constitutional Court's ruling that annuls the presidential nomination threshold has become a breath of fresh air for the country's democracy and electoral system, according to smaller political parties with and without seats in the national legislature.
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An official holds a ballot during vote counting for the 2024 presidential election at a polling station in Banda Aceh, Aceh on Feb. 14, 2024. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
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ost small and medium political parties have welcomed a recent Constitutional Court ruling revoking the threshold to nominate presidential candidates, hailing the decision as leading to an end to the dominance of bigger parties in elections.
On Thursday, the court declared unconstitutional and not legally binding a provision in the 2017 General Elections Law that requires a party or coalition of parties to hold 20 percent of House of Representatives seats or to have won 25 percent of the popular vote in the previous election to nominate a candidate in a presidential race.
The ruling is expected to allow for a wider field of nominees to run in the next presidential election slated for 2029, restoring hopes for more competitive elections in the future. Previous elections have been criticized for the limited choices of candidate pairs, which failed to reflect public choices.
While annulling the threshold to ensure all parties can nominate their candidates, the court instructed lawmakers to put provisions in a new law on presidential elections that would prevent an excessive number of candidates running, which the justices argued would “undermine the essence of direct elections”.
‘Win for democracy’
Among those praising Thursday’s ruling was the National Mandate Party (PAN), a mid-sized Islamic-based party, which has successfully maintained its seats in the House of Representatives for decades but failed to nominate its own member in February’s presidential election. The party currently holds the fewest seats in the legislature after only winning 7.2 percent of the popular vote in February’s legislative poll.
PAN deputy chair Saleh Daulay said the party was grateful for the ruling, saying the threshold had limited citizens’ rights to become president.
