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.
House rushes to revise regional head elections law after court rulings
The House of Representatives legislation body (Baleg) is in the spotlight for rushing to revise the regional head elections law, reportedly in an attempt to circumvent new rules for candidate nomination the Constitutional Court introduced on Tuesday, three months before the polls.
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!
Members of an indigenous group attend on July 17 a promotional event for the 2024 simultaneous regional head elections, which will be held on Nov. 27, in Tasikmalaya regency, West Java. (Antara/Adeng Bustomi)
The House of Representatives legislative body (Baleg) is in the spotlight for rushing to revise the law on regional head elections, reportedly in an attempt to circumvent new rules for candidate nomination the Constitutional Court introduced on Tuesday, three months before the polls.
Baleg on Wednesday held a meeting with Home Minister Tito Karnavian and newly appointed Law And Human Rights Minister Supratman Andi Agtas of president-elect Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra Party to discuss the planned revision to the prevailing 2016 Regional Elections Law.
Among the discussion points were two rulings the Constitutional Court issued on Tuesday on the nomination threshold and age restrictions for candidates in the nationwide regional head elections, slated for November, as well as a proposal to move the elections to an earlier date.
The Constitutional Court lowered the threshold for any political party or alliances of parties to be able to nominate candidates for local heads from 25 percent of the popular vote to between 6.5 and 10 percent, depending on the number of voters registered in the respective areas. This restores hope for competitive races amid the dominance of the ever-growing Gerindra-led Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) in several key battleground regions. The KIM is the electoral coalition behind the February presidential victory of Prabowo and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday also confirmed that all gubernatorial candidates must be 30 at the time they placed their bid with the General Elections Commission (KPU) next week, in contrast with an earlier decision by the Supreme Court that the age requirement was applicable at the time of inauguration sometime next year. The Constitutional Court ruling might mean that Jokowi’s youngest son Kaesang Pangarep, who does not turn 30 until December of this year, loses his chance to run for regional office.
In the preliminary decision on Wednesday, a majority of parties in the House agreed to make the threshold applicable only for small political parties with no seats at the local legislatures and the minimum age candidacy applicable at the time of inauguration.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) however rejected the plan. The PDI-P parted ways with its nominal member Jokowi following his tacit support for Prabowo-Gibran in the presidential election in February.
