Indonesian Parliament Upholds Constitutional Court's Ruling On 2024 Regional Head Elections Amid Protests

JAKARTA, Aug. 22 (Bernama) -- The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) on Thursday affirmed that it will adhere to the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the 2024 Regional Head Elections (Pilkada), according to Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad.

The court's decision, following an application for a judicial review by the Labour Party and the Gelora Party, will still be in effect during candidate registration on August 27, as the amendment to the Pilkada bill (RUU) has not yet been approved.

"At 10 a.m., after a 30-minute delay, it was decided that amendments to the Pilkada bill could not be implemented. This means that today's scheduled amendments have been cancelled," he said during a press conference.

Therefore, any future sessions on this matter must follow the established procedures, and no additional session days will be allocated before the Pilkada candidate registration, Sufmi explained.

Only 86 out of 560 members attended the parliamentary session amid protests here and in several major cities demanding that the DPR reject the amendment of the bill from Komisi III, which overrides the court's decision on candidate requirements for all political parties and age limits.

Following the cancellation of the approval of Pilkada bill, President Joko Widodo's youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, will not be eligible to run for governor of Central Java due to age factor during the candidate registration, said former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, as reported by news portal SindoNews.

Protesters gradually dispersed from the parliamentary area around 6 p.m. local time, and traffic in the vicinity returned to normal, while security forces continued to monitor and prevent the prolongation of the demonstration.

Police used water cannons to control those attempting to enter the parliamentary area after several fences were dismantled during the protest.

-- BERNAMA