The court ruled almost unanimously to introduce the new, lower nomination threshold, which is based on how many votes a political party or alliance of political parties won in the previous legislative election in the region in question.

To be eligible to field a candidate for governor, mayor or regent, the court ruled, a party or a group of parties must have won between 6.5 and 10 percent of the popular vote in the province, city or regency of the race, depending on the number of voters registered there.

Previously, a party or a coalition of parties was required to have won 25 percent of the popular vote in the previous election to field a candidate pair, regardless of the number of eligible voters, or hold at least 20 percent of the seats in the local legislature.

The Tuesday decision was in response to a petition filed by two small political parties, the Labor Party and Gelora Party. The ruling was 8 to 1, with justice Guntur Hamzah dissenting.

The new threshold is “effective immediately”, justice Enny Nurbaningsih, the spokesperson for the bench, told The Jakarta Post.

Read also: Constitutional Court drops electoral threshold for upcoming local polls