Indonesia top court rejects presidential age limit, clearing legal path for 72-year-old frontrunner
Indonesia’s top court rejected an effort to block presidential candidates who are over... The Indonesian Constitutional Court has rejected a petition seeking a maximum age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates to run in elections. The petition, led by lawyers belonging to a human rights advocacy group and other petitioners, argued that the constitution required stricter limits than those in the country's 2017 General Election Law. If successful, it would have prevented frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, 72, a former special forces general and current defense minister, from competing in the election scheduled for next February. While the petitioners were not targeting a particular candidate, Subiantos' candidacy is widely feared by human rights activists. The ruling comes one week after the Constitutional Court allowed SubiantO to choose his preferred vice presidential candidate.
Publicado : Hace 2 años por By ANDI JATMIKO and NINIEK KARMINI, By ANDI JATMIKO, Associated Press, NINIEK KARMINI en Politics World
Judges preside over the hearing on a petition seeking for a maximum age limit of presidential and vice presidential candidates to able to run in elections, at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Indonesian presidential hopeful and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, center, gestures during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. The world's third-largest democracy is holding its legislative and presidential elections on Feb. 14, 2024. Judges preside over the hearing on a petition seeking for a maximum age limit of presidential and vice presidential candidates to able to run in elections, at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top court rejected an effort to block presidential candidates who are over 70 or implicated in human rights abuses, clearing the legal path for a septuagenarian former general's ultra-nationalist campaign.
Lawyers belonging to a human rights advocacy group and other petitioners argued that the constitution required stricter limits than those written in the country's 2017 General Election Law, which sets no maximum age.
If successful, the petition would have blocked frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, 72, a former special forces general and current defense minister, from competing in the election scheduled for next February.
While the petitioners said they were not targeting a particular candidate, Subianto's candidacy is widely feared by human rights activists, who associate him with torture and disappearances during the final years of the Suharto dictatorship.
The petitioners asked the court to rule that the candidates cannot be older than 70 years old, citing the constitution's requirement that candidates be "mentally and physically capable” for the office.
The 8-to-1 decision by the nine-judge panel of the Constitutional Court rejected the arguments, saying it was up to parliament to set limits on the presidency.
“We deeply regret this decision,” said petitioner Anang Suindro, the coordinator of Alliance 1998 Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights, “We considered that today the Constitutional Court has failed to protect and fight for human rights in Indonesia’s election process.”
The ruling came one week after the Constitutional Court carved out an exception to the law’s minimum age, allowing Subianto to choose his preferred vice presidential candidate.
A longtime commander in Indonesia’s Kopassus special forces, Subianto was discharged from the military in 1998 after Kopassus soldiers kidnapped and tortured activists political opponents of Suharto, his then father-in-law. Of 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 remain missing. Subianto never faced trial, although several of his men were tried and convicted.
Subianto went into self-imposed exile in Jordan for several years, later returning to Indonesia and founding a political party. He ran for the presidency twice, losing to current president Joko Widodo both times, before accepting a position in Widodo's cabinet.
Now, Subianto is running as Widodo's successor, naming the president's eldest son as vice-presidential candidate. Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the 36-year-old mayor of Surakarta, is below the statutory minimum age of 40, but will be allowed to run under an exception created by the top court last week that allows current and former regional governors to run at 35.
Temas: Indonesia