The Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates has exceeded its authority

JAKARTA – Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Saldi Isra expressed his attitude regarding several petition decisions regarding the age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates on Monday (16/10/2023) which seemed strange. Saldi admitted that he was confused because the Constitutional Court’s decision was seen as changing in the near future.

The confusion that Saldi refers to is that initially the Constitutional Court’s decision rejected PSI’s application asking for the age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates to be reduced from 40 years to 35 years. However, after the decision, the Constitutional Court decided to partially accept the request of Almas Tsaqibbiru Re A, a UNS student who submitted a minimum age of 40 years for presidential and vice presidential candidates or experience as a regional head.

“Because, since setting foot as a Constitutional Judge in this Court building on April 11 2017, or around six and a half years ago, this is the first time I have experienced a strange, extraordinary event that can be said to be far from the limits of reasonable reasoning: the Court changed its stance and “His attitude was only fleeting,” said Saldi.

Previously, the Civil Society Coalition had also discussed this in a discussion in South Jakarta. Political observer Ray Rangkuti believes that the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the age limit for presidential and vice-presidential candidates should be the authority of the DPR, not the Constitutional Court.

“The issue of age limits for presidential and vice presidential candidates should not be up to the Constitutional Court, the DPR should be the authority,” explained Ray Rangkuti during a public discussion with the theme MK: Constitutional Court or Family Court in Tebet, South Jakarta, Sunday 15 October 2023.

Titi Anggraini as an election observer also added that the decision regarding the age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates should be implemented in the next election.

“The age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates should be implemented in the next election, not in the 2024 election next year. “This is a suspicion, the public will assess the statesmanship of the Constitutional Court judge in making policy,” explained Titi Anggaraini.

Titi emphasized that the Election Law being sued had been tested 120 times. The mechanisms and processes should have been running precisely without needing to be changed.

“What is happening today is that we are facing political judiciary in the face of elections, which ultimately has an impact on regulatory uncertainty in the face of the election itself,”