The Indonesian Constitutional Court on Monday (Oct. 23) rejected several motions to block presidential candidates who are over 70, paving the way for 72-year-old Prabowo Subianto to contest in the 2024 presidential election, Tempo reported.

Imposing age limit

Lawyers belonging to a human rights advocacy group and other petitioners had requested that the court amend an article in the 2017 General Election Law to limit the age of presidential and vice-presidential candidates to 70.

Prabowo, who is Indonesia's defence minister, celebrated his 72nd birthday last week.

The petitioners argued on the basis that since the article had set a minimum age of 40 years old for president and vice president candidates, it should also set an upper age limit.

The group asked the court to rule that candidates cannot be older than 70 years old, citing the constitution's regulation that candidates be "mentally and physically capable" for the office, AP news reported.

One of the plaintiffs, Rudy Hartono, pointed out that no Indonesian president had assumed office after the age of 70.

Could have blocked Prabowo's bid for presidency

The group also requested the court to add norms in an article of the General Elections Law:

"Having never committed any act of treason against the state, having never committed any acts of corruption, having no record of committing human rights violations, having not involved in and/or being part of abduction of activists in 1998, having not involved in and/or being an actor of forced disappearance, having never committed any crimes of genocide, having not involved in and/or being an actor of any crimes against humanity and anti-democratic acts, and other serious crimes."

If the motions submitted were successful, it could have blocked Prabowo's bid for presidency in the 2024 election.

Activists have alleged that Prabowo is linked to human rights abuses during the final years of Suharto's regime, when he served as a commander of the Army's elite unit.

While Suharto's 32-year leadership in Indonesia had brought the country to stability and nurtured economic growth, many associate his rule with large-scale corruption, political unrest, and widespread violence.

In May 1998, after escalating social unrest, Suharto resigned from his post just two months after being elected to his seventh five-year term as president.

Lacked legal standing

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman on Monday (Oct. 23) said that the motions submitted lacked legal standing.

The request to limit the age of presidential candidates to 70 was also rejected on the basis that a similar motion had been ruled upon the previous week.

Last Monday (Oct. 16), the court issued a ruling that allowed those under the age of 40 to run for president or vice president as long as they had previously held an elected regional office.

"We hereby reject the motions by the plaintiffs in their entirety," Anwar said in the hearing streamed live by the court.

“We deeply regret this decision,” said Anang Suindro, coordinator of Alliance 1998 Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights.

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