TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Constitutional Court (MK) today held another court session on the lawsuit filed by Rian Ernest from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) regarding the minimum age required to run as a regional head in Indonesia. He challenged the court to drop the age requirement down to 21-years of age.

“We intend to drop the required age to 21-years old. Last time, we handed the discretion to the MK panel of judges but were told to file for the specific age we see fit. That is how we ended up with 21 years of age [as the minimum requirement],” said Indonesian Solidarity Party’s Rian Ernest in the court session Tuesday, Oct. 29.

The lawsuit was filed by Rian, Faldo Maldini, and Dara Nasution, who are all PSI politicians. Rian said a 21-year-old minimum was chosen to level the age minimum on par with other existing regulations such as the minimum age to be a House of Representatives (DPR) member.

The lawsuit was originally filed to the MK on September 23 by Faldo and other PSI politicians Tsamara Amany Alatas and Dara Nasution.

The current law overseeing the minimum age to run for a gubernatorial candidate at the age of 30 while running for Regents or Mayors are set at 25 years of age. The PSI politicians presented their argument regarding the unfairness of the Law in the case of Faldo, who is set to run in West Sumatera’s regional head election in 2020.

However, Faldo’s age as of April 2020 will be 29 years old, which they deemed ironic as a Law limits Faldo Maldini’s constitutional rights.

EGI ADYATAMA