By Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s judicial oversight body on Friday said it would summon judges from a district court to explain what it called a “controversial” ruling that effectively ordered a delay in 2024 presidential and general elections.
Handling a lawsuit from an obscure party called Prima, whose election registration was denied, the Central Jakarta district court on Thursday ruled the election commission (KPU) must halt all of its election preparations for more than two years.
The decision, which would push back national polls until 2025 at the earliest, has drawn widespread criticism and questions about the court’s authority and why it deemed all election processes must be stopped.
“If there are strong suspicions that there was a foul play from the part of the judges, then the commission will probe said judges,” said Miko Ginting, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Judicial Commission.
The full ruling by the court had yet to be published on Friday but a copy seen by Reuters showed judges deemed that after the party’s registration was rejected, it was unfairly denied the chance to submit the required documents, due partly to glitches with KPU’s software.
It also said an administrative court had declined to take up the case and the district court’s decision was intended to “restore justice and prevent as early as possible other events of errors, inaccuracies, unprofessionalism” by the KPU.
Law experts have criticised the judges for ordering a delay instead of ruling on the verification process. The court spokesperson Zulkifly Atjo said the ruling was the judges’ prerogative.
KPU said it would appeal and forge ahead with organising the polls.
RISK OF UNCERTAINTY
The ruling has revived a debate regarding President Joko Widodo’s tenure, where some senior political figures openly back the idea of him staying beyond his second term, which ends next year, while others warn that would roll back two decades of hard-won democratic reforms.
Indonesia’s constitution limits a president to two terms and the Constitutional Court made clear in a ruling on another case on Tuesday that there could be no extension beyond that.
“If the discourse comes back to surface, it will create more uncertainties around the elections,” said Arya Fernandes, an analyst at Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, adding it would also create an unstable investment climate.
Jokowi, as the incumbent is popularly known, has previously said he rejects the idea of extending his time in office.
Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, a senior official at the office of Jokowi’s chief of staff, on Friday called for calm and said the government “is still committed” to hold elections in February next year.
Multiple surveys have showed most Indonesians are against extending Jokowi’s term.
Jokowi’s ruling party and the country’s chief security minister have opposed Thursday’s decision, saying a district court has no authority to decide election issues, echoing concerns from law experts.
Said Iqbal, chairman of the Labour Party, said workers would protest the decision as it goes against the Constitutional Court’s ruling that a sitting president’s tenure could not be extended beyond the existing limit.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia and Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Martin Petty)
