Justice Saldi Isra also supported the ruling, noting that the article violated the equality principle that is enshrined in Article 27 of the country’s Constitution.
All political parties should be allowed to nominate a candidate, he added.
Rifqi Nizamy Karsayuda, the head of the parliamentary commission overseeing elections, told local media that lawmakers would take action following the ruling, calling it “final and binding”.
Indonesia’s law minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Arya Fernandes, political analyst at Centre for Strategic and International Studies, welcomed the ruling as it allowed smaller parties to nominate a candidate and lessened their dependence on bigger parties.
Arya said lawmakers could still make revisions to the law that would limit the ruling’s impact as the court did not abolish the vote threshold.
Indonesia’s presidential elections are held every five years. The most recent was held last year and won convincingly by President Prabowo Subianto, who took office in October.
The country embraced direct elections in 2004. Under this system, citizens vote directly for the president and vice-president, rather than leaving the decision to the legislature, the Jakarta Globe reported.
The 20 per cent parliamentary threshold was introduced in 2008 and reinforced by the 2017 election law. It was intended to streamline the number of presidential candidates but critics had argued that it stifled competition and gave disproportionate power to large political parties.
The Jakarta Globe also reported that the threshold had also created a scenario where smaller parties had to form coalitions in order to contest in the presidential elections, leading to complex bargaining processes and compromises.
Thursday’s ruling comes after the same court lowered a similar threshold for regional positions such as governor and mayor to under 10 per cent of the vote from 20 per cent in August last year.
After parties supporting Prabowo and outgoing president Joko Widodo sought to reverse changes to the ruling, thousands took to the streets to protest against what they said was a government effort to stifle opposition.
In a separate ruling on Thursday, the court limited the use of artificial intelligence to “overly manipulate” images of election candidates, saying manipulated images “can compromise the voter’s ability to make an informed decision”.
Source: CNA
