Indonesia’s top court rejected an effort to block presidential candidates who are over 70 or implicated in human rights abuses, clearing the legal path for a septuagenarian former general’s ultra-nationalist campaign.
Lawyers belonging to a human rights advocacy group and other petitioners argued that the constitution required stricter limits than those written in the country’s 2017 General Election Law, which sets no maximum age.
While the petitioners said they were not targeting a particular candidate, Subianto’s candidacy is widely feared by human rights activists, who associate him with torture and disappearances during the final years of the Suharto dictatorship.
“We deeply regret this decision,” said petitioner Anang Suindro, the coordinator of Alliance 1998 Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights, “We considered that today the Constitutional Court has failed to protect and fight for human rights in Indonesia’s election process.”Some of the petitioners also proposed rules barring candidates connected to genocide, forced disappearances and other human rights abuses.
Subianto went into self-imposed exile in Jordan for several years, later returning to Indonesia and founding a political party. He ran for the presidency twice, losing to current president Joko Widodo both times, before accepting a position in Widodo’s cabinet..
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