Najamudin made this statement following the Constitutional Court (MK) decision on Thursday (January 2) that abolished the presidential threshold in the Election Law.
“We appreciate the step taken by MK. It slowly but surely removed political restrictions that were holding back the development of democracy and has given citizens a bit more open political rights to run for national leadership,” he noted in the DPD's statement.
However, he noted that currently, under the Constitution, only political parties are authorized to nominate presidential candidates.
“Currently, the Constitution only designates political parties as democratic institutions with the right to propose presidential candidates. However, we need to begin discussions about allowing independent or non-partisan nominations of presidential candidates,” he stressed.
The DPD speaker expected that MK's decision to abolish the presidential threshold would expand political rights, including the right to vote and be elected, thereby fulfilling people's sense of political justice.
He believes that this shift could enable Indonesia to elect more competent national leaders.
“It will be hard for this nation to achieve a high quality of democracy and find perfect complete leadership if we do not create alternative democratic institutions beyond political parties," Najamudin emphasized.
Earlier, the MK decided to remove the presidential threshold in Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Election. The presidential threshold was considered contrary to the 1945 Constitution.
The now-abolished part stated that presidential and vice presidential candidates must be supported by at least 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) or receive at least 25 percent of the national legitimate votes of political parties or coalitions of political parties based on the results of the previous election.
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Translator: Melalusa K, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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