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Ministers rally round Jokowi in Constitutional Court
Four ministers of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration defended the social aid distribution during the campaign season of the 2024 presidential election, claiming that the aid, which was planned accordingly and approved by the legislature, would not be enough to sway a large number of voters.
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Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy (left), Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto (second left), Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (second right) and Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini (right) sit in the courtroom of the Constitutional Court building in Jakarta ahead of the 2024 election dispute hearing on April 5, 2024. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
In the last hearing of the 2024 election dispute, the Constitutional Court grilled four members of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s cabinet over presidential working visits and social assistance disbursement during the campaign season, which feature among key allegations made by the unsuccessful presidential camps.
Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo have challenged the electoral victory of Prabowo Subianto, calling for a revote without the president-elect and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of President Jokowi.
In their petition, they claim that the Prabowo-Gibran victory was helped by large-scale electoral fraud and Jokowi’s partisanship, they allege the President politicized social aid during the campaign to sway voters in favor of the incumbent defense minister’s ticket.
The court called four ministers, namely 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, to testify during a hearing on Friday.
All ministers denied the allegations that Jokowi used government aid for electoral purposes.
Read also: President Jokowi denies politicizing social assistance
Airlangga, who also chairs the Golkar Party, which backed the Prabowo-Gibran presidential bid, asserted that the government did not deliberately distribute additional social assistance during the election year and the mechanism for social aid distribution remained the same compared with previous years.
