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Jakarta Post

Rhoma Irama's party to challenge presidential threshold

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, August 9, 2017

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Rhoma Irama's party to challenge presidential threshold Frontman: "King of dangdut" Rhoma Irama gives his speech during the Peaceful and Benign Islam (Idaman) Party's national working meeting on Jan.8 in Depok, West Java. (JP/Nurul Fitri Ramadhani)

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he Peaceful and Benign Islam (Idaman) Party of self-styled king of dangdut Rhoma Irama has announced that it will file a judicial review with the Constitutional Court (MK), challenging a stipulation in the recently endorsed election law that maintains a high minimum threshold for political parties to nominate a presidential candidate.

Idaman Party secretary general Ramdansyah said that his party proposed that there be no presidential threshold.

"In 2019, we will have simultaneous balloting for the legislative and presidential elections, so it would be better if the threshold is set at zero," Ramdansyah said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday .

Under the new election law passed by the House of Representatives last month, a presidential candidate would require support from a party or coalition of parties with at least 20 percent of House seats or 25 percent of the popular vote, a requirement that was based on the outcome of the 2014 legislative elections.

Ramdansyah said the stipulation was unfair to small political parties like the Idaman Party, which was founded in 2015.

"Rhoma himself will file the petition this morning," he said.

Rhoma set up his Idaman Party after failing to be nominated in the 2014 presidential election. The National Awakening Party (PKB) had toyed with the idea of nominating Rhoma as president, before it decided to back the candidacy of then Jakarta governor Joko Widodo.

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