REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Simultaneous legislative and presidential elections will be inefficient, a deputy of the House of Consultative Assembly (MPR) stated.
"There is no way that simultaneous elections can be efficient, as the presidential election entails two rounds," MPR Deputy Speaker Hajriyanto noted here on Thursday.
He explained that the presidential election cannot be held in one round because many candidates nominate themselves. One can just imagine, for instance, 10 political parties contesting, and thus, 10 presidential hopefuls.
"Observing the trend in Indonesia, the political parties did not favor coalition. They can coalesce if it is made mandatory, through the issuance of a law that requires a political party to win at least 20 percent (of the votes) or 25 percent of the seats in the House," Hajriyanto claimed.
Therefore, he believes that simultaneous elections only provide equal rights for small and big parties, though the idea lacked efficiency.
He also added that considering the scenario of simultaneous elections, a president can be elected but his political party fails to meet the electoral threshold.
"This is possible because the voters can like a presidential candidate, but they do not like the political party that nominated him or her," he remarked.
The Constitutional Court has approved a judicial review request of the Law No. 42 of 2008 on the Election of President, Vice-President, and legislative elections as filed by the Civil Society Coalition for Elections led by Effendi Gazali.
The law, among others, regulates that the legislative and presidential elections should be held separately.
The coalition is of the viewpoint that the law was against the Constitution where the general elections should be held once in five years.
"The general elections will be held simultaneously in 2019," stated the Constitutional Court (MK) Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva here on Thursday.
Effendi Gazali and his associate examined a number of related articles on the law that regulates Presidential and legislative elections.
The applicants believe that separately conducting the legislative and presidential elections can be an inefficient decision, which can eventually harm the constitutional rights of the voters.
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