The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled on Thursday, January 2, 2025 that the 20 percent presidential nomination threshold requirement stipulated in Article 222 of Law No. 7/2017 on the General Elections is unconstitutional.

The Court granted the lawsuit earlier filed by Enika Maya Oktavia and her friends of the School of Sharia and Law of Yogyakarta-based Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University.

“Granting the lawsuit of the petitioners in its entirety,” said the verdict read out by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

The court justices said further that the nomination of a pair of presidential and vice-presidential candidates by a party or coalition of political parties participating in the election is not based on a percentage of the number of seats in the House of Representative (DPR) nor the nationally valid votes.

In its verdict, the Constitutional Court stated that the norms of Article 222 in the Elections Law are contrary to the 1945 Constitution and have no binding legal force. The Court also ordered that their decision be published in the state news as appropriate.

Two of the nine constitutional judges, namely Anwar Usman and Daniel Yusmic, had different opinions on the petition filed by the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University students. According to Suhartoyo, both stated that the petitioners did not have the legal standing to file the lawsuit.

In their lawsuit, the petitioners challenged Article 222 of the Election Law which regulates the presidential nomination threshold of 20 percent of DPR seats or 25 percent of the national votes gained by a political party or a coalition of political parties.

Article 222 of the Election Law has regulated the requirements that presidential and vice presidential candidates can only be nominated by political parties that have at least 20 percent of DPR seats or obtained 25 percent of the national valid votes in the previous election.