The General Elections Commission (KPU) will announce Saturday the results of the presidential election — a day earlier than scheduled — but the losing candidates continue to challenge the polling process.
The KPU said Friday it would go ahead with the announcement on Saturday.
The announcement is expected to hand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono slightly more than 60 percent of the vote and ensure that a runoff is not needed, because of the incumbent’s victory margins of more than 50 percent in more than 17 provinces.
However, defeated rivals Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto, and Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto will ensure Yudhoyono’s road to a second term is not a smooth one, having announced separately they would refuse to recognize the KPU-sanctioned results.
Yudhi Chrisnandi, head of Kalla’s campaign team, said Friday the candidates would attend the announcement but might not sign the KPU’s result certificate.
He denied Kalla’s rejection of the results meant the latter did not wish to recognize Yudhoyono’s victory, but rather that it was meant to prevent future elections falling prey to the snags that have hounded this years legislative and presidential polls.
“We’re not trying to force our will here,” Yuddy told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
“What we’re trying to do is educate the country on how democracy works.”
He added Kalla and Wiranto would only accept defeat once all legal challenges to the election result had been settled by the Constitutional Court by the August 11 deadline.
Megawati’s team, meanwhile, has already confirmed the former president and her running mate will not attend the KPU’s announcement of the election results, and called on the poll body not to grant Yudhoyono a second term, saying the results were still being disputed at the Constitutional Court.
“Tomorrow, the KPU must not announce Yudhoyono’s victory,” Gayus Lumbuun, coordinator of Megawati’s advocacy team, said Friday at a press conference at Megawati’s residence in Central Jakarta.
“They should only clarify the results they’ve received.”
Gayus added his candidate’s campaign team would also not sign the election result certificate.
“Of course we won’t sign something that has been violated by said institution,” he said.
Megawati and Prabowo had previously announced they planned to challenge the election results at the Constitutional Court, citing hundreds of alleged electoral violations their campaign teams had spotted in the field on voting day.
In response, KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said the results would stand, with or without the attendance of the candidates.
He added neither their attendance nor signatures was mandatory to give the results the necessary legitimacy.
“The important thing is we’ve invited them,” he said.
“Whether they choose to show up or not is their concern. And as for their not signing, I don’t think that’s a big deal.
“The certificates will still be legitimate, even without my signature.”
