TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Court ruling has nothing to do with Kaesang, PSI says
Despite the party’s dismissiveness, controversy has stained another court ruling over the age of candidacy for November’s gubernatorial race, this time in apparent favor of Jokowi’s youngest son.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Kaesang Pangarep delivers his inauguration speech on Sept. 25, 2023 as the newly sworn-in chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) at a party meeting in Jakarta. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
The Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) has said the Supreme Court’s recent controversial ruling on the age of gubernatorial candidacy for the upcoming regional head elections is unrelated to the party or its chairman.
PSI executive Andy Budiman said on Monday that the ruling had nothing to do with either the party or PSI chairman Kaesang Pangarep, the youngest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, as “the one who filed the petition with the Supreme Court is the Garuda Party”.
The court found in favor of a petition filed last week by Garuda, a minor party, to revise the rules on the age of candidacy for the November elections.
The existing rules require all gubernatorial candidates to be 30 at the time their candidacy is formally approved.
In its decision, the Supreme Court states that gubernatorial candidates must be 30 at the time of their inauguration, and orders the General Elections Commission (KPU) to revise its regulation on candidate eligibility in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.
The court’s decision has since garnered controversy for its apparent bias toward the December-born First Son, who at 29 would not have been eligible to contest the November elections under the existing rules.
The decision coincided with the buzz around a mock Jakarta campaign poster uploaded to social media by a top Gerindra Party official that depicted Kaesang as a potential running mate of Gerindra lawmaker Budisatrio Djiwandono. But Budisatrio had recently signaled he would not be contesting Jakarta's gubernatorial election.
