The Presidential Electoral System: A Philosophical Analysis

Abstract

The Republic of Indonesia’s Law no. 7 of 2017 requires presidential and vice-presidential candidates to be proposed by political parties that meet the requirements, namely obtaining at least 20% of the total Legislative House seats or nationally obtaining 25% of valid votes in the previous Legislative House election. This is not recognized in Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, the constitutional basis for nominating a president. This paper aims to provide a philosophical analysis on the presidential and vice-presidential electoral threshold. Results show that from a philosophical perspective, this threshold provisions eliminate the constitutional rights of the people and minor political parties to nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates. There can only be a maximum of three political parties and the oligarch and large political parties will make sure that the candidates will only come from their parties. This threshold undermines the logic of the presidential system. In conclusion, philosophically the threshold limits the freedom of alternative candidates to nominate themselves in the presidential election. It will only give an opportunity for candidates from major political parties. Thus, the government and various parties must reconsider this law to protect the rights of the people as mandated by the constitution.