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Push for House inquiry ramps up
House of Representatives lawmakers must brace for a likely vote to officially investigate election irregularities when they return from recess on Tuesday.
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Lawmakers attend a House of Representatives plenary session on March 8, 2021, in Jakarta. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
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ouse of Representatives lawmakers must brace for a likely vote to officially investigate election irregularities when they return from recess on Tuesday, as political parties backing the rivals of presumptive winner Prabowo Subianto agreed to join forces in a political process that analysts say will hinge largely on their united front.
The election body is due to announce the official election results by March 20, but signs indicate that Prabowo Subianto won a comfortable lead ahead of rivals former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Ganjar Pranowo.
Prabowo, who ran with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, claimed victory in the election after unofficial results from various quick counts in sample polling stations showed he had won nearly 60 percent of the vote.
But neither rival has conceded defeat, with their campaigners expressing concerns that the election was tainted by voter intimidation, manipulation of state institutions and misuse of state resources, such as welfare funds, during the campaign period to sway the election outcome.
Five parties in the Anies and Ganjar camps have suggested they were ready to launch a House inquiry into what they have described as “structured, systematic and massive” election fraud after lawmakers return from recess this week.
There were initially questions over whether the NasDem Party, the main sponsor of Anies’ presidential bid, would back the motion after the President reportedly lobbied party chairman Surya Paloh to accept the election result during a dinner at the Presidential Palace.
But NasDem and two other parties in the Anies camp – the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – later announced that they were “ready to participate" in the legislative inquiry into alleged election fraud. They said they wanted to prove that the Feb. 14 general election “was the worst election in the country’s history”.
