Indonesia panel to investigate ethical complaint over vote ruling

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has set up a panel to investigate a suspected conflict of interest in a court ruling last week clearing the way for a son of President Joko Widodo to run for vice president in an election next year.
The expected registration of the president’s 36-year-old son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as a running mate for the favourite to become the next president has raised worries of a resurgence of patronage politics in a country that emerged from authoritarian rule 25 years ago.
Gibran’s bid to become vice president was enabled by a Constitutional Court ruling removing a minimum age requirement of 40 for presidential or vice-presidential candidates, on the condition they have been elected to regional posts. Gibran was elected the mayor of Surakarta city in 2020.
Enny Nurbaningsih, a judge and spokesperson for the Constitutional Court, said it had received seven complaints filed by activists and others, of a suspected “ethical violation” in connection with the ruling last week by a nine-judge bench.
One complainant called for the court’s chief judge, Anwar Usman, who is the president’s brother-in-law and Gibran’s uncle, to step down, she said. She did not elaborate.