To nominate a presidential candidate (capres) and vice-presidential candidate (cawapres), political parties must obtain a certain percentage of seats in the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR).
This is regulated in Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, which reads as follows:
"Presidential and vice-presidential candidates are nominated by a Political Party or a Coalition of Political Parties participating in the General Election that meets the requirements of obtaining at least 20% (twenty percent) of the total number of DPR seats or obtaining 25% (twenty-five percent) of the national valid votes in the previous DPR general election."
So, which parties meet these requirements?
DPR Seat Acquisition Percentage 2019-2024
In the 2019 General Election, a total of 139.72 million valid votes were collected. Of this amount, PDI Perjuangan received 27.05 million (19.33%) votes.
With this achievement, PDI Perjuangan successfully placed 128 of its representatives in the DPR and has a seat acquisition percentage of 22.26% of the total number of parliamentary seats for the 2019-2024 period.
This number of PDI Perjuangan's seats is the most dominant compared to other political parties.
The next party with the most DPR seats is Partai Golkar, with 85 seats (14.78%). Followed by Gerindra with 78 seats (13.57%), and Partai Nasdem with 59 seats (10.26%).
In total, 9 parties obtained DPR RI seats in the 2019-2024 period.
Meanwhile, 7 other political parties did not qualify for the DPR because their vote acquisition was below the parliamentary threshold (less than 4%).
The 7 parties that did not obtain parliamentary seats are Perindo, Partai Berkarya, Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI), and Partai Hanura. Then Partai Garuda, Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB), and Partai Keadilan dan Persatuan Indonesia (PKPI).
PDI Perjuangan Can Proceed Independently, Other Parties Must Form a Coalition
Based on the information above, the only party currently entitled to nominate a presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair in the 2024 Presidential Election is PDI Perjuangan, because its seat acquisition has exceeded the stipulated threshold of 22.26% of the total number of DPR seats.
Other political parties must form a coalition to meet the presidential threshold requirements, until their total seat acquisition reaches a minimum of 20% of the total number of DPR seats.