Indonesia: All eyes to focus on poll dispute hearing

  • As the hearing of the presidential election dispute at the Constitutional Court approaches, the plaintiffs, defendants and security forces are gearing for what is to be the resolution to the 2019 election.
  • The General Elections Commission (KPU) sent on 12 Jun 19 several trucks to the court, carrying 272 containers of evidence to support its official vote count that led to incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo being declared the winner over challenger Prabowo Subianto.
  • KPU commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari said each of the 34 provincial KPUs had gathered eight containers of evidence, regardless of whether they were disputed in Prabowo’s lawsuit, to show that the poll body was ready to refute all allegations of fraud leveled against it.
  • The evidence was prepared to counter several allegations in Prabowo’s lawsuit, which was filed on 24 May 19, including that the final voters list (DPT) was incorrect and that there were errors on the KPU’s ballot count website Situng.
  • The Prabowo camp returned to the court on 11 Jun 19 to revise the lawsuit by adding more evidence and allegations.
  • The revised lawsuit includes two additional allegations regarding election malfeasance. The first is that Ma’ruf Amin, Jokowi’s running mate, violated the law by maintaining his position at state-owned bank subsidiaries and the second is that the incumbent committed fraud in his campaign funds report.
  • It also argues that the discrepancies between Prabowo’s vote count results, based on C1 vote tally forms belonging to the campaign team, and the KPU’s documents, indicated that there were 30 million “stolen votes”
  • KPU commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari said he would only focus on the relevant arguments and tackle the allegations in the plaintiff’s original document. “The justices are the ones who decide whether to accept or not to accept [the revised petition],” Hasyim said.
  • Following criticism, he did not intervene to prevent or stop the violence, the Gerindra Party chairman has urged his supporters to stay away from the Constitutional Court to prevent another postelection riot before the election dispute hearing starts on 14 Jun 19.
  • He asked supporters to trust the court and to accept its decision with “maturity, calmness and consideration for the national interest”.

External Link: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/06/13/all-eyes-focus-poll-dispute-hearing-prabowo-election-lawsuit.html

13-Jun-2019