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Constitutional Court summons four ministers in election dispute
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Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo (center, rear) presides over a hearing on April 2, 2024, in the
election dispute filed by the Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD presidential pair. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
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our cabinet members have been summoned to the witness stand in election-dispute hearings to testify about the distribution of social aid during the campaign season, which the losing presidential candidates allege was used for the benefit of the eventual winner, Prabowo Subianto.
At the Constitutional Court, losing candidates Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo are challenging the election results certified by the General Elections Commission (KPU), seeking a revote either with Prabowo but with his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son, excluded, or without the pair entirely. They claim the landslide victory depended on large-scale fraud and partisanship by Jokowi and his administration, with social aid used as a tool to ensure just one outcome.
Chief Justice Suhartoyo announced during a hearing on Monday that the court would summon Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Social Affairs Minister Tri “Risma” Rismaharini for a hearing on Friday.
However, Suhartoyo insisted that the subpoenas were not in order to accommodate the requests from Anies and Ganjar’s lawyers, both of whom had called on the four ministers, in addition to Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan and President Jokowi himself, to be summoned to the court as witnesses during the first set of hearings last week.
“Simply put, we rejected the petitioners' requests [to summon the ministers]. But the bench is taking its own stance that it is important that [their dispositions] be heard, which hopefully can happen on Friday,” Suhartoyo said.
While it was no surprise that the Anies and Ganjar camps welcomed the court’s decision, a lawyer for Prabowo-Gibran, Otto Hasibuan, hailed it as a “blessing in disguise”, saying on Monday that testimony from the ministers could firmly dispel allegations that the distribution of social aid earned votes for the winning pair.
Haryo Lismantyo, spokesman for the office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, meanwhile, told The Jakarta Post that Airlangga’s office had not yet received the summons letter as of Tuesday afternoon.
