Indonesian ‘bizarre’ court ruling on election delay controversial, Jokowi says
- A court decision to push back national polls until 2025 has drawn criticism about the court’s authority and why it deemed all election processes must be stopped
- Court ruling involves the legitimacy of the new Prima party, and reasons why the political bloc was denied eligibility in next February’s election
The ruling was delivered by the Central Jakarta Court on Thursday in a civil lawsuit filed by a newly formed political party called Just and Prosperous People’s Party, or Prima, which had failed the verification process to participate in next year’s general elections.
The party, established in 2020, had previously protested against the decision to the Elections Supervisory Agency and filed a civil lawsuit to the State Administrative Court, but both institutions rejected the case.
But Prima received a reprieve last week as the Central Jakarta Court’s judges ruled software glitches in the General Election Commission’s system were partly to blame for the party failing to submit the requirements needed to pass verification, according to the ruling document as cited by The Jakarta Post. The document itself has not been officially published.
There is a large force trying to use legal loopholes to carry out a move which is basically unconstitutional to postpone elections
The three-judge panel ordered the election commission, or KPU, to halt all ongoing election processes, which pushes the polls back to 2025. Indonesia is set to vote for a new president and members of the legislative bodies on February 14 2024.
