In Indonesia, protesters argue proposed changes to election law violate constitution

A plan by Indonesia’s parliament to override new election rules set by the top court has sparked outrage across the country, as protesters gather in Jakarta and other cities to rally against what they perceive as President Joko Widodo’s attempt to undermine democracy. [ . . . ] On Tuesday, the constitutional court lowered the barrier in terms of party representation for the nomination of candidates for regional elections, enabling smaller parties to run. The change would enable prominent government critic Anies Baswedan to re-enter the Jakarta gubernatorial race in November after he appeared to have been hampered from doing so because of the previous law, which required parties to have a 20 per cent representation in their regional assemblies to nominate a candidate. Anies has indicated that he intends to contest the election. The court also upheld the 30-year-old minimum age requirement for regional election candidates. Such an amendment would block Widodo’s 29-year-old son Kaesang Pangarep from running for deputy governor of Central Java in November. However, parliament announced the next day, reforms of the election law that would effectively nullify the constitutional court’s ruling – once again removing Anies and enabling Kaesang to run in their respective election race. Such a plan would enable Kaesang and his family’s allies to run uncontested in the elections in Jakarta and Central Java, analysts say.
Read the full article here: South China Morning Post