Indonesia court rejects ballot system change before election

JAKARTA, June 15 (AFP): Indonesia's constitutional court on Thursday shot down a proposed change to the country's electoral system that rights advocates had decried as an attack on democracy, ahead of a vote next year.

The legal challenge stoked fears of a return to Indonesia's autocratic past and a potential delay to February's presidential and legislative polls, which could have allowed President Joko Widodo to extend his rule past the two-term limit.

The court rejected a bid by a member of the governing Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to move the world's third-biggest democracy to a closed-ballot voting system that would have only allowed party leaders to choose MPs.

Constitutional court chief justice Anwar Usman said in a hearing on Thursday that he "rejects the plaintiffs' petition in its entirety".

A ruling the other way would have been binding and could not have been immediately challenged.

The closed-ballot system was used during autocratic former president Suharto's rule and kept after his downfall in the late 1990s.

Since 2008, Indonesia has operated on an open-ballot system where voters cast ballots directly for specific lawmakers.

Critics had questioned the independence of the court as chief justice Usman is Widodo's brother-in-law.

But the Indonesian leader has repeatedly denied any attempts to prolong his presidency beyond the 10-year limit.

The eight other parties in parliament opposed the PDI-P-backed change before Thursday's ruling.