The Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional on 2 January a section of the 2017 General Elections Law governing presidential election nominating procedures. This part of the law required a party, or coalition of parties, to hold a minimum of 20 per cent of the seats in the national legislature, or to have won 25 per cent of the popular vote in the previous legislative election, in order to nominate a presidential candidate. The ruling agreed with the university students who petitioned the court that the minimum threshold unfairly benefited large parties and limited individual voting rights. Although the ruling did not establish a new nominating standard, Indonesian legal experts expected the new system to result in a more pluralistic electoral environment that benefits both more parties and the voting public.

Sources: Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2), The Diplomat

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court sided with labour union petitioners in 21 of 71 points in a legal challenge to the much-contested 2020 Job Creation Law, also known as the Omnibus law, on 1 November. The ruling will require local officials to set sectoral minimal wages, expanded employee protections when an employee is laid off, required ministries to act more directly to reduce conflicts between employers and employees, and ordered parliament to amend key parts of the law within two years or the entire law will become unconstitutional automatically. The Court had previously ruled other parts of the law unconstitutional in 2021 because lawmakers had failed to follow proper procedures during its passage through parliament.

Sources: The Diplomat, Industriall

A wave of protests across Indonesia on 22 August and sharp criticism from civil society compelled the legislature to defy the country’s Constitutional Court (CC) and revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law. The tension began on 20 August, when the CC overruled a controversial May 2024 Supreme Court decision changing the rules for the minimum age of candidates. That ruling would have allowed President Joko Widodo’s son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for governor of Jakarta. The 20 August CC ruling also lowered the threshold for political party participation in regional polls, which would provide a more open contest between the ruling Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) and opposition parties. KIM MPs swiftly introduced legislation to revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law on 22 August, which was interpreted by legal experts, civil society, and the opposition as an unconstitutional effort to override the CC’s legally binding ruling. Large demonstrations followed on the same day across the country, with over 100 protesters and police reported injured and over 400 arrested. Parliament swiftly withdrew the legislation and on 25 August gave the General Elections Commission permission to reform electoral laws in line with the CC’s ruling and protester demands. Human rights organizations criticized the police response to the protests and called for an investigation into excessive violence and allegations of attacks on key organizers and journalists.

Sources: Jakarta Post, International IDEA, Human Rights Watch, Financial Times, CNN Indonesia, Reuters

The Indonesian government introduced regulations on 29 July that legalized some abortions under strict conditions as part of the implementation of a 2023 Health Law. Women whose pregnancies are a result of rape and certain medical emergencies will now be able to obtain an abortion up to 14 weeks after conception. The previous legal standard only allowed for six weeks. The country’s leading religious council, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), sharply criticized the new regulations as contradicting its 2005 fatwa, declaring abortions can only be performed within 40 days of conception. Some gender rights activists broadly welcomed the move but criticized a provision that grants the police, rather than medical professionals, sole discretion to authorize abortions, and the lack of specific instructions for police on how to handle and process rape cases.

Sources: Reuters, Benar News, Tempo

The Supreme Court ruled on 30 May that the minimum age requirement for gubernatorial candidates applies not from when a candidate is nominated but for when they would be sworn into office. The ruling was widely interpreted as a carve-out to permit outgoing President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for governor of Jakarta in an election scheduled for 27 November. Kaesang will be 29 on election day but will turn 30 before he would be sworn in. In October 2023, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court made a comparable ruling that allowed Jokowi’s elder son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to run (successfully) for vice president in the 2024 presidential election.

Sources: Jakarta Post, The Diplomat, International IDEA

Indonesia’s parliament and government have agreed on a bill that will shorten the tenure of Constitutional Court judges from 15 to 10 years, require approval from appointment authorities (the president, the Supreme Court, and parliament) every five years or be removed from office, and overhaul the court’s ethics counsel to add the president, parliamentarians and members of the Supreme Court. Some members of the court have clashed with outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration in several high-profile occasions, most recently in a ruling over the validity of the most recent election. Legal experts warn the changes are intended to subjugate the powerful court to the legislative and executive branches and punish the three justices who dissented from a broader ruling supporting  dismissing electoral challenges in the 2024 general elections. Those three judges will be the first whose seats are up for review. Governing MPs argued the changes were politically neutral and aimed at ensuring the court’s accountability and efficacy.

Sources: Benar News, Reuters, Perludem