T

he losing pair of Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa might be hoping the festive mood of Idul Fitri dies down soon as the Constitutional Court is due to begin hearing the lawsuit filed against the General Elections Commission (KPU) over the presidential election result.

The court will begin the much-awaited adjudication on Aug. 6 and expects to issue a verdict before Aug. 21, although the public might not have to wait that long should the panel of justices declare Prabowo-Hatta ineligible to contest the election outcome because of their decision to walk out of the vote recapitulation conducted by the KPU on July 22.

But let'€™s face it. The court will allow the losing pair to seek justice anyway so that the question of legitimacy will not dog the next government'€™s five-year term.

Through their lawyers, the Prabowo-Hatta camp has demanded the court order vote recounts and even revotes at 52,000 polling stations, citing structured, systematic and massive fraud in almost all of the 33 provinces. One of the lawyers, Maqdir Ismail, said his clients had found 21 million rigged ballots that cost them their victory in the July 9 race.

The KPU final vote tally showed Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Jusuf Kalla won 53.15 percent of the valid votes to beat Prabowo and Hatta in the most riveting race for the presidency Indonesia has ever seen. Prabowo and Hatta, however, claimed to have won 50.25 percent of the vote based on their own data.

Nothing is special about the election dispute pitting Prabowo-Hatta against the KPU. The court has heard hundreds of petitions filed by losing candidates in presidential, gubernatorial, mayoral and regental elections.

Statistics, however, show it is very rare that a candidate can overturn a defeat. In any exceptional case, the vote margin separating the winning and losing candidates is usually very close.

Quite often the court orders revotes in response to allegations of '€œmassive and structured vote rigging'€, but the attempt hardly changes the outcome.

Before completing his term as leader of the Prabowo-Hatta campaign team, former court chief Mahfud MD had warned the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the difficulties in contesting the election result, given the over 8 million votes separating them and the president- and vice president-elect.

To some analysts, the Prabowo-Kalla ticket is trying to save face with the court fight, which is right. Prabowo, in particular, had been brimming with confidence that the grand coalition he built would overcome Jokowi and Kalla. Last-minute support from the ruling Democratic Party had looked like it would change the course of the race in favor of Prabowo and Hatta.

Now it is the court'€™s turn to play ball. As the verdict is final and binding, the panel of justices will further put the court'€™s reputation in jeopardy if they repeat the mistake of disgraced former court chief Akil Mochtar, who was sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes.