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Constitutional Court ruling casts shadow over integrity of 2024 election
On Monday, the court removed the 40 years minimum age requirement for presidential or vice-presidential candidates if they had previously been elected to regional posts, potentially opening the way for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's 36-year-old son to contest.
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Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman (right) and Justices Saldi Isra (second right), Enny Nurbaningsih (second left), and Arief Hidayat (left) attend a hearing to deliver a ruling on a judicial review filed against Article 169 of the 2017 Election Law concerning age limits for presidential and vice presidential candidates in Jakarta on Oct. 16, 2023. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
Days before candidates officially register for next year's general elections, a game-changing ruling by the nation's constitutional court has sparked concern over the integrity of the vote in the world's third-largest democracy.
On Monday, the court removed the 40 years minimum age requirement for presidential or vice-presidential candidates if they had previously been elected to regional posts, potentially opening the way for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's 36-year-old son to contest.
The ruling, issued by a court headed by the president's brother-in-law, has raised fears of a resurgence of patronage politics in a country that only 25 years ago emerged from the authoritarian rule of strongman leader Suharto.
"I don't think there is a single person in Indonesia who wasn't aware the application was fundamentally about whether the president's son could run as a vice presidential candidate," said Tim Lindsey, an expert in Indonesian law at the University of Melbourne.
The court and the presidential palace did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Indonesia will hold simultaneous presidential and legislative election on Feb. 14 next year. Jokowi, as the president is known, is ineligible to run after serving the maximum two terms.
But Monday's ruling paves the way for his eldest son and mayor of Surakarta city, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
