Democratic showdown puts Widodo, Prabowo on the backfoot

Indonesian legislators have backed down from plans to ignore the country’s Constitutional Court over a controversial electoral ruling, as demonstrators attempted to storm parliament in protest against the proposals.

Jubilant supporters of the Constitutional Court have welcomed the decision, but many warn the government could yet press ahead with similar measures aimed at cementing the power of retiring President Joko Widodo and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who will succeed him on October 20.

The near constitutional crisis began on August 20, when the court handed down two key rulings. The first substantially lowered the nomination threshold for candidates running in regional elections, just days before the registration of candidates was due to take place.

With every major party bar one now backing Prabowo and Widodo, there were signs of coordination within the alliance to all back the same candidate in key regional races. The aim was to effectively block candidates critical of the government out of many key races.

Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, who looked likely to win a second term in office should he run, seemed the most prominent target. But many candidates from the PDI-P – Widodo’s old party, which is now increasingly opposed to him – stood to be affected.

The second Constitutional Court decision struck down a lower court ruling relaxing minimum age requirements for political candidates.

Critics denounced the lower court decision as suspect, as the only potential candidate who looked to be affected by the change was the second son of President Joko Widodo, Kaesang Pangarep, who had been preparing to run for the post of deputy governor of Central Java.

Faced with this double blow, Indonesia’s