New MK approval sought for independents

Desy Nurhayati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 08/19/2008 10:42 AM  |  National

With the Constitutional Court having allowed independent candidates to run in local direct elections, it should also endorse individuals as independents for the 2009 presidential elections, experts and activists said Monday.

Political analyst and activist Fadjroel Rachman, who has declared his readiness to be an independent presidential candidate, said all citizens should be entitled to run for the 2009 presidential election without being nominated by a political party.

He and several other political and legal experts are planning to submit a request to the Constitutional Court to review the 2003 law on presidential elections, which they added contradicted the Constitution, since only candidates nominated by parties can contest the presidential race.

"We will file for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court on Aug. 28 to demand it annul several articles in the 2003 law on presidential elections," Fadjroel told a press briefing.

The 2003 law stipulates that every candidate for president and vice president must be proposed by a political party or a coalition of parties.

"The Constitution guarantees the political rights of all citizens, including to nominate themselves as presidential candidates, without having to get support from parties," Fadjroel said.

"Not all citizens are affiliated to parties, so the 2003 law is against the Constitution."

He said only about 10 percent of Indonesia's 230 million people are political party members.

"We are optimistic that the court will accept our request because it had previously ruled that independent candidates can run in regional elections. There's no reason for the court to reject it."

The move has received support from prominent legal and political experts, including Taufik Basari, Denny Indrayana, Saldi Isra, Bima Arya Sugiarto, Yudi Latif, Anies Baswedan, Andrinof Chaniago and Sukardi Rinakit.

Taufik said even though Article 6 of the Constitution states that presidential and vice presidential candidates are nominated by a party or a coalition of parties, this was not obligatory in nature.

"The article does not state that proposing presidential and vice presidential candidates through political parties is mandatory, so we will use this article to defend our stance.

"Besides, Articles 27 and 28 of the Constitution guarantee citizens' rights and equality before the law," he added.

"The 2003 law makes nomination by political parties the only way to run for presidency. This is a violation of constitutional rights."

Bima Arya said that allowing independent presidential candidates was urgent so as to improve the country's presidential system of governance. "We should not allow political parties to dominate this political process."

Fadjroel said he and fellow petitioners would go ahead with the plan to seek the annulment of the 2003 law, although the next presidential election would use the 2008 presidential election law, which is now being deliberated by the House of Representatives.

"We will not have enough time for the review if we wait until the deliberation is complete. So now, we will file for the review request first. And when the 2008 law starts to take effect, we will ask the Constitutional Court to update the review."

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