Five Constitutional Court Justices: Requirement for Young Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates is Prior Gubernatorial Experience

The Constitutional Court (MK) announced Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 regarding the minimum age limit for presidential and vice-presidential candidates on Monday (16/10/2023).

The decision was made in response to a lawsuit filed by Almas Tsaqibbirru, a law student at Surakarta University (UNSA).

Previously, Article 169 (q) of Law No. 7 of 2017 stipulated that a requirement for becoming a presidential or vice-presidential candidate was, "To be at least 40 (forty) years old."

Then, in its ruling, Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 changed the wording of the article to, "To be at least 40 (forty) years old or to have held/be currently holding a position elected through a general election, including regional head elections."

Although the minimum age limit remains unchanged, the MK's decision paves the way for younger presidential and vice-presidential candidates, provided they have previously held a publicly elected office.

These elected officials include members of the DPR (House of Representatives), DPRD (Regional People's Representative Council), DPD (Regional Representative Council), and regional heads such as governors, deputy governors, regents, deputy regents, mayors, and deputy mayors.

However, the ruling in Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 was not unanimously agreed upon by the Constitutional Court judges.

Of the 9 MK judges who presided over this case, 2 expressed concurring opinions, and 4 expressed dissenting opinions, leaving only 3 who fully agreed.

Constitutional Court Justice Saldi Isra also revealed that 5 MK judges agreed that the alternative requirement for presidential and vice-presidential candidates under 40 years old was "having served as a governor."

"For the judges who 'partially granted' the petition, the common ground among those five was only the position of governor," said Saldi Isra in his dissenting opinion recorded in Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023.

"Therefore, the ruling should only apply to the position of governor, as this was the common ground among the five Constitutional Court Justices," he continued.

Meanwhile, only 3 MK judges agreed that young presidential and vice-presidential candidates must meet the requirement of "having held a publicly elected office."

"The requirement that presidential and vice-presidential candidates be at least 40 (forty) years old or have held/be currently holding a position elected through a general election, including regional head elections, was actually only supported by 3 Constitutional Court Justices," said Saldi Isra.

This issue was also raised by Ahmad Basarah, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Islam Malang.

Ahmad stated that the ruling in Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 was only agreed upon by 3 out of 9 Constitutional Court judges.

"In reality, only 3 Constitutional Court judges agreed with this ruling. The remaining 6 Constitutional Court judges had differing opinions regarding the ruling. Therefore, the MK's decision actually did not grant the petitioner's plea, but rather rejected the petitioner's request," said Ahmad Basarah in his press release on Tuesday (17/10/2023).

"Given such a problematic decision, it should not be immediately implemented because it contains problems, namely errors in making the decision that affect the validity of the decision. Therefore, the KPU (General Election Commission) should prioritize the principles of caution, accuracy, and certainty in studying this decision," he continued.