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Court Seals Indonesia Leader 04/22 08:24
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's top court on Monday rejected appeals
lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are demanding a revote,
alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the February polls.
The 5-to-3 majority decision by the eight-judge panel of the Constitutional
Court rejected the arguments, saying the legal teams of the losing candidates
had failed to prove allegations that Prabowo Subianto's victory was the result
of widespread fraud.
The Court "rejects the petitioner's appeal entirely," Constitutional Court
Chief Justice Suhartoyo said Monday, after a panel of eight judges took a
marathon six hours to publicly read its reasoning in turn on both separate
appeals. The verdict cannot be appealed.
The General Elections Commission, known as KPU, had certified a landslide
victory for president-elect Subianto, but his rivals, former Jakarta Gov. Anies
Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo alleged that the victory
had depended on large-scale fraud and widespread state interference.
They also alleged nepotism, challenging the candidacy of outgoing President
Joko Widodo's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as Subianto's running mate.
Baswedan and Pranowo argued that Raka, 37, should have been disqualified
because the minimum age for candidates is 40, and they asked the court to bar
him from a revote. Before the election, Raka was granted a controversial
exception to that requirement by the Constitutional Court, which was then led
by Anwar Usman, Widodo's brother-in-law. Usman was later forced to resign as
chief justice for failing to recuse himself.
The case was decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court
because Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, was required
to recuse himself.
Subianto, the current defense minister, won the election with 58.6% of the
votes, or more than 96 million ballots --- more than twice the number received
by each of the two runners-up, according to the KPU.
The losing candidates accused Widodo of widespread abuse of power, saying he
used officials at every level, ranging from cabinet members to village heads,
and state policies such as social aid programs, to provide support for Subianto
and Raka. Indonesian presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to
succeed them.
Baswedan and Pranowo's legal challenges complained that hefty social aid
from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign --- far more
than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic --- and Widodo distributed
funds in person in a number of provinces.
But the top court dismissed the charges, saying it was not convinced that
the president had intervened to change the requirements for candidates in favor
of his son and that he did not commit nepotism when he approved and supported
his son's candidacy for vice president.
"A position obtained through general elections cannot be qualified as a form
of nepotism," judge Arief Hidayat said.
The court found that there was no proof that Widodo and his administration
bent laws and norms to support Subianto. The decision was widely expected after
four Indonesian Cabinet members testified in the court in April 5, that no
rules were violated in the distribution of government aid.
However, in a dissenting opinion, judge Saldi Isra said it was impossible to
deny that social assistance was disbursed in the middle of the campaign for
electoral purposes is impossible.
"I have a moral obligation to warn in order to anticipate and prevent a
repetition of similar situations in the future," Isra said.
Hundreds of protesters who had gathered near the court melted away as the
broadcast of proceedings on a TV screen outside indicated their candidate's
case was unsuccessful.
Subianto, who was linked to human rights abuses during the authoritarian
rule of Suharto, previously made four bids for the presidency and twice
unsuccessfully challenged his losses to Widodo. His refusal to accept the
results of the 2019 presidential election led to violence that left nine people
dead in Jakarta.
Widodo, the first Indonesian president from outside the Jakarta elite who is
widely popular, will end his second and final term in office in October.
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