REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Former Minister/State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Wednesday that 2014s presidential election violated article 6 of the 1945 Constitution, which stipulated that presidential and vice presidential candidates must be nominated before a legislative election.

"We (Crescent and Star Party) are still struggling because of this issue. This is one of the ways a presidential system can be strengthened. Ideally, a presidential election should be held before a legislative election, pursuant to article 6 of the 1945 Constitution," he said following a ceremony, where he was declared the presidential candidate of the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) on Wednesday.

Under the general election law, many political parties had nominated their presidential and vice presidential candidates after a legislative election, Yusril pointed out. By doing so, these political parties had been able to assess their vote tallies before deciding whether or not to nominate a presidential candidate and which parties could they form a coalition with, he said.

In addition, the presidential election law stipulated that a political party or a group of political parties can only nominate a presidential candidate by securing at least 20 percent of the parliament seats, he said. Therefore, Yusril added, it was not surprising that the presidential system had increasingly become weaker and tended to lean more towards being a parliamentary system.

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