Gerindra Party DPP daily chair Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said that the party and its coalition partners had agreed to nominate Luthfi and Maimoen before the Constitutional Court's ruling.
"We had discussed this prior to the court's decision," he added at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Friday.
The day before, protests had erupted in several Indonesian cities against the DPR's Legislative Body's attempt to overturn the Constitutional Court's decision by revising the Regional Head Elections (Pilkada) Bill.
On Wednesday, August 21, the DPR (House of Representatives) agreed to revise the minimum age requirements for regional head candidates, following a ruling by the Supreme Court (MA).
As per the ruling, the minimum age needed to be calculated based on the date of inauguration.
With the approval, the minimum age for gubernatorial candidates would have been set at 30 and for regent and mayoral candidates at 25.
The DPR decision on Wednesday could have significantly affected Kaesang's candidacy, which was backed by a large coalition.
Born on December 25, 1994, Kaesang would have met the age requirement by the time elected governors would be sworn in on January 1, 2025.
However, following public protests on Thursday (August 22), the parliament decided to drop its plan to revise the Law on Regional Leaders' Election.
Now, the law will be applied concurrently with the Constitutional Court (MK) decision regarding the electoral threshold and candidates' age limit for regional head elections.
Therefore, Kaesang would not be eligible to contest since the General Elections Commission (KPU) is scheduled to announce eligible candidates on September 22, when he will still be 29 years old.
Meanwhile, Luthfi revealed that Kaesang was not supported by his coalition due to political considerations.
"That's a party commitment," Luthfi said, adding that he is ready to run with anyone, including Maimoen.
Luthfi, the current Central Java police chief, will resign before registering his candidacy with the KPU as a gubernatorial candidate on August 29, 2024.
Kaesang's name had also been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate for Jakarta, but the Golkar Party ultimately chose former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil, with Suswono as his running mate.
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Translator: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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