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Prabowo's camp fires on all legal cylinders
Gearing up: Officials of the South Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) prepare documents on Saturday to be presented as evidence for a hearing at the Constitutional Court
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Gearing up:: Officials of the South Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) prepare documents on Saturday to be presented as evidence for a hearing at the Constitutional Court. The General Elections Commission (KPU) has ordered 11 regional election committees to prepare for a lawsuit filed by the losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. (JP/DON) (KPUD) prepare documents on Saturday to be presented as evidence for a hearing at the Constitutional Court. The General Elections Commission (KPU) has ordered 11 regional election committees to prepare for a lawsuit filed by the losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. (JP/DON)
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span class="inline inline-center">Gearing up: Officials of the South Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) prepare documents on Saturday to be presented as evidence for a hearing at the Constitutional Court. The General Elections Commission (KPU) has ordered 11 regional election committees to prepare for a lawsuit filed by the losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. (JP/DON)
The legal team of Gerindra Party presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto is trying to call into question the official vote tally result of the presidential election won by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, to ensure a Prabowo victory.
Since the announcement of the official vote count by the General Elections Commission (KPU), Prabowo's legal team has filed reports to the Constitutional Court (MK), the Election Organizers Ethics Council (DKPP), the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the National Police, the country's Ombudsman and the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN).
The latest legal attack launched by the team was a report filed with the National Police on the back of the KPU's decision to send a notice asking Regional Elections Commissions (KPUDs) to reopen ballot boxes on July 25.
'The content of the report is the same [as the one filed at Bawaslu earlier],' Prabowo's legal team member Didi Supriyanto told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He was referring to a report filed at Bawaslu on Thursday, in which the advocate team accused the KPU of violating the law since the ballot boxes opening, intending to obtain evidence inside the boxes in preparation for the lawsuit hearing at the court, and doing so without permission from the court.
Didi said the KPU's reasoning for a need for evidence did not justify the opening of ballot boxes, which the legal team feared could lead to evidence being tampered with.
Prabowo's legal team has filed four reports with the DKPP accusing the KPU and Bawaslu of breaching codes of ethics by allowing Jokowi to run in the 2014 presidential election without proper permission, as well as deliberately attempting to rig some of the votes in Jakarta.
In the reports, Prabowo's legal team accused the KPU and Bawaslu of misconduct for granting Jokowi's candidacy although he did not have permission from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he registered at the KPU.
With the same reasoning, the team also filed a report to the PTUN in the hope the court would deem Jokowi's candidacy unlawful.
The team also accused the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) in Jakarta of deliberately trying to rig the vote by burning 265 uncounted ballot boxes in Cilincing, North Jakarta.
The most exhaustive report is the 146-page lawsuit filed at the court that says election fraud occurred nationwide conducted by the KPU.
Submitted on July 25, the lawsuit claimed that fraud had occurred at 52,000 polling stations and had affected 21 million votes.
It goes on to claim that the number of those who exercised their voting rights in Aceh did not match the number of ballot papers used there in 774 polling stations, where there was a discrepancy of 637 votes.
'The KPUD in Aceh along with its personnel could not carry out its core duties and functions in accordance with existing law, so that a democratic presidential election could not be fulfilled,' the document said.
The fraud also allegedly occurred in North Sumatra, where Prabowo's legal team accused the KPUD of abusing its power by inflating votes by 100 to 200 percent in South Nias regency.
In Java, Prabowo's camp believed systemic, widespread fraud had occurred in all provinces, including in Jakarta, which had drawn considerable attention as the Panwaslu there had recommended the regional General Elections Commission (KPUD) to investigate 5,817 polling stations and conduct revotes in 13 polling stations.
The first hearing for the case at the court is scheduled today.
Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) executive director Titi Anggraini said that the KPU and Bawaslu had shown a remarkable improvement in their performance compared to the general election in 2009.
'The criticisms actually came from the increase in transparency and access to information which provided opportunities for many parties to criticize and get involved in the election,' she told the Post. 'That's the thing that really sets the current election organizers apart with the past.
