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View all search resultsKPU told to present solid evidence at election row trial
Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD warned the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Monday to come up with solid evidence or else risk losing the upcoming election dispute hearing
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C
onstitutional Court chief Mahfud MD warned the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Monday to come up with solid evidence or else risk losing the upcoming election dispute hearing.
"If the KPU fails to do so, there is a high possibility the court will rule in favor of the challenging parties, which would mean a great deal to the KPU," Mahfud MD said, as quoted by Antara news agency.
The statement was made after lawsuits were filed by the legal divisions of both presidential candidate pair Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto, led by Gayus Lumbuun, and the Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto pair over almost 28 million allegedly unreliable presidential election votes. They asked the Constitutional Court to order the KPU to prove otherwise or they would demand a presidential election second round vote.
Mahfud guaranteed the court would be impartial in trying the case. "We will be as independent as possible in trying the case. And being independent here means that we will not be influenced by the plaintiffs, the KPU or the presidential hopefuls," he said.
The presidential election counting process showed that the Yudhoyono-Boediono pair won with 60.80 percent of votes, second was Megawati with 26.79 percent and third was Kalla with only 12.41 percent of votes. However, if the court issues a ruling in favor of the challengers then it is likely the KPU would be ordered to organize a second round of voting.
The first hearing is slated to be held on Tuesday and is open to the public. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) executive Maruarar Sirait said Megawati and Prabowo would attend.
"Their presence will be another way of saying that they respect the legal process and therefore are ready to accept whatever the court rules later on," he said.
The KPU head Abdul Hafiz Anshary said the KPU had prepared all materials needed for the hearing.
"Basically, we are ready to answer the plaintiffs' allegations of electoral roll discrepancies and vote manipulation at the upcoming trial," he said.
Head of the KPU legal division I Gusti Putu Artha said he was optimistic that the KPU would be able to prove that the allegations were baseless.
