TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Constitutional Law expert, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, predicts that the regulation on presidential threshold currently being discussed for the Election draft bill (RUU) could potentially end up being reviewed by the Constitutional Court (MK).
According to Yusril, MK might even overrule the presidential threshold article.
Yusril views that the scenario could turn into a reality considering MK decided the provisions for the 2019 simultaneous elections.
“Simultaneous elections should not have any threshold,” said Yusril on Thursday, June 15, 2017. Yusril even claimed that a presidential threshold is unconstitutional.
There are currently five crucial points that must be agreed upon by the government and parliament. The points include the election system, presidential threshold, parliamentary threshold, allocation of parliamentary positions in each election region, and the method to convert votes into parliamentary positions.
The government insists that a presidential candidate must be endorsed by political parties or consolidated political parties that have obtained 20-25 percent of the votes.
Home Affairs Minister, Tjahjo Kumolo, asked the parliament to accommodate the government’s suggestion. He even warned that the government would rather not continue the discussion if they were not to reach a conclusion by Monday, June 19, 2017. He is considering drafting a Government regulation in lieu of law to be the basis of the election.
ARKHELAUS W.
