Indonesia's parliament shelved planned changes to electoral laws on Thursday after protesters in the capital set fires and faced down tear gas and water cannon over legislation they say would weaken opponents of the outgoing president and his successor.

The legislature, dominated by supporters of outgoing President Joko Widodo and his successor, Prabowo Subianto, was scheduled to vote to reverse changes to election laws made by the constitutional court, a ruling that effectively reopened a chance for a vocal government critic to run in regional elections.

Parties backing Prabowo had earlier this week rallied behind a single candidate for the influential post of Jakarta governor, killing off chances of the president-elect's rival, Anies Baswedan, from running.

Anies at the time needed the backing from a party or a coalition of parties with at least 20 percent of seats in the local parliament, under rules for regional elections in place since 2016.

But Tuesday's Constitutional Court ruling had lowered the threshold to under 10 percent, giving Anies a chance to be nominated by the only party that has not named a candidate, PDIP.

The national parliament had sought to return to the previous threshold, contradicting the country's highest court in a move critics said would favour the outgoing president and his family, and the incoming government, as they consolidate power and freeze out any opposition.

"This is a republic. It's a democracy, but if its leadership is decided by one person, or an oligarchy, we can't accept that," said 29-year-old teacher Afif Sidik.

On Thursday, deputy parliament speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said that deliberations would be resumed by the incoming parliament, meaning there would be no change for this year's regional elections, scheduled for November.

That means Anies will be able to seek the Jakarta governor's office if PDIP nominates him.

The parliament decision came as security forces fired tear gas and water cannon as protesters breached and set ablaze part of the gates of parliament, while demonstrations broke out across the country against the election law changes. (Reuters)