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No re-runs, thank God
Perhaps it is no exaggeration to say most Indonesians felt relieved Wednesday to hear news of the Constitutional Court verdict — binding and final — rejecting the lawsuits of the two losers in the July 8 presidential election
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erhaps it is no exaggeration to say most Indonesians felt relieved Wednesday to hear news of the Constitutional Court verdict — binding and final — rejecting the lawsuits of the two losers in the July 8 presidential election.
All the petty squabbling over the results of the election ended Wednesday when the court announced its verdict, upholding the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) earlier decision to name Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner of the July 8 election.
“While it can be proven in court that there were cases of election violations, there is not enough evidence to support the allegations that those violations were massive and systematic — a prerequisite to declare the election invalid,” Constitutional Court chief Moh. Mahfud M.D. said as he read the verdict.
The verdict nullified earlier claims made by the legal team of presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri; that the July 8 election was full of violations, and that 28.6 million votes for Yudhoyono were not valid.
“The 28.6 million votes came from voters registered more than once, underage voters and even dead voters,” a member of Megawati’s legal team had said. “We believe the KPU awarded these invalid votes to Yudhoyono.”
The verdict also confirmed that despite all its weaknesses, the KPU had organized the July 8 election in a lawful and transparent manner. At least the KPU’s official results were on par with tallies provided by five separate survey groups offering quick count calculations.
The Wednesday verdict also came as a relief to the nation because it prevents an election re-run or run-off from being held. Feared by the general public, such a scenario could have potentially created a power vacuum since there would be no guarantees results could be finalized before October 2009 — the deadline for the new government to take up office.
The verdict — issued after more than a week of hearings, testimonies and reviewing evidence submitted by the campaign teams of failed presidential candidates Megawati Soekarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla — rejected all evidence and legal arguments provided by the plaintiffs and thus declared the results of the July 8 election as valid.
On July 24, 2009, the KPU announced that incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the winner of the July 8 presidential election, securing 60.80 percent of the valid votes. His challengers, Megawati came in a distant second with 26.79 percent of the vote, and Kalla came third with 12.41 percent.
Now that all the potential constitutional channels to challenge the validity of the election have been exhausted, it would perhaps be advisable and noble for all elements of society — especially the losing parties affected by the verdict — to unconditionally accept the results of the July 8 presidential election.
The new government has plenty of homework to do, and must fulfill its campaign promises. But without the support from the public, including from the camps of the losing candidates, it would be difficult for the elected government to execute those tasks, let alone guide the nation through the tough global competition ahead.
