Indonesia’s top court reject plea to change voting system

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a plea seeking a change to the country’s election ballot system ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections.

The top court rejected the petition filed by six people, including a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest party in the ruling coalition, which sought to restore the closed-list electoral system, the daily Jakarta Post reported.

Following the latest verdict, the simultaneous legislative and presidential elections in February 2024 will be held under the existing open-listing voting system in the Southeast Asian nation.

The ruling also ended the debates among political parties that probably the constitutional court would restore the previous system in Indonesia.

Under the open-list voting system, voters can choose among the legislative candidates, rather than just from among political parties represented in a closed-list format for legislative elections, according to the report.

The closed-list ballot system was abolished in 2008, till when voters chose parties instead of local candidates.

The petitioners who filed the plea last year in November argued that the current open-list format was encouraging vote-buying in the country.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid