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orontalo gubernatorial candidate, incumbent Governor Rusli Habibie has filed a judicial review at the Constitutional Court regarding the convict status of prospective regional heads, as stipulated in Law
No. 10/2016 on regional elections.

He wants to review Article 7, Paragraph 2, which states that a regional candidate leader cannot have a conviction based on a legally binding court decision or be a former convict who has openly and honestly told the public that they are an ex-convict.

According to Rusli, the article does not mention the punishment limit for the convict, so he feels this potentially restricts the political rights of Indonesian citizens, including himself. Rusli’s current status is a convict as he was sentenced to a year with two years probation. He was involved in a defamation case involving former Gorontalo Police chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, who is currently head of the National Narcotics Agency.

“I’ve never received a copy of the verdict, so my status is still Rusli Habibie just as before,” he said, who will pair with incumbent Gorontalo Vice Governor Idris Rahim in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

The pair, nominated by the Golkar and Democrat parties, registered their candidacy at the Gorontalo General Elections Commission on Friday.