Jakarta – The son of outgoing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), Kaesang Pangarep, has secured three letters of recommendation from the South Jakarta District Court, which he would have submitted as an administrative requirement to register his deputy gubernatorial candidate position in Central Java province.
A spokesperson for the South Jakarta District Court said the three documents were issued on Tuesday, the day the Constitutional Court upheld the candidate age requirements to run in local elections, which effectively barred Kaesang from running in the race.
"The three documents were published on Aug. 20 [...] They were requirements to register as deputy governor candidate in Central Java," court spokesperson Djuyamto told news station Metro TV on Friday.
The three recommendations concern Kaesang's criminal record, political rights and that he was a solvent individual not in debt to the government or other business entities.
Also on Tuesday, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling lowering the threshold for parties to nominate a candidate in the regional head elections, which would clear the way for government critic Anies Baswedan to run in Jakarta.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives moved to amend election rules that would annul the Constitutional Court's decisions. The changes were to be brought to a plenary session on Thursday to be ratified, sparking a rare power struggle between the House and the judiciary.
Earlier this week, a coalition of government-aligned parties rallied behind a ticket of Ridwan Kamil and Suswono, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) for governor of the capital Jakarta, a move which was expected to kill off Anies' chance of being reelected to the influential post.
The decision to tap Suswono as Ridwan's deputy was said to have angered Jokowi, who expected his son Kaesang to be run as deputy governor in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.