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All eyes to focus on poll dispute hearing
As the hearing of the presidential election dispute at the Constitutional Court approaches, the plaintiffs, defendants and security forces are gearing for what is to be the resolution to the 2019 election
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span>As the hearing of the presidential election dispute at the Constitutional Court approaches, the plaintiffs, defendants and security forces are gearing for what is to be the resolution to the 2019 election.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) sent on Wednesday several trucks to the court, carrying 272 containers of evidence to support its official vote count that led to incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo being declared the winner over challenger Prabowo Subianto.
KPU commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari said each of the 34 provincial KPUs had gathered eight containers of evidence, regardless of whether they were disputed in Prabowo’s lawsuit, to show that the poll body was ready to refute all allegations of fraud leveled against it.
The submitted evidence included originals and copies of various vote tally (C1) forms and minutes, ranging from the polling station level to the central KPU office.
The evidence was prepared to counter several allegations in Prabowo’s lawsuit, which was filed on May 24, including that the final voters list (DPT) was incorrect and that there were errors on the KPU’s ballot count website Situng.
The Prabowo camp returned to the court on Tuesday to revise the lawsuit by adding more evidence and allegations.
The revised lawsuit includes two additional allegations regarding election malfeasance. The first is that Ma’ruf Amin, Jokowi’s running mate, violated the law by maintaining his position at state-owned bank subsidiaries and the second is that the incumbent committed fraud in his campaign funds report.
It also argues that the discrepancies between Prabowo’s vote count results, based on C1 vote tally forms belonging to the campaign team, and the KPU’s documents, indicated that there were 30 million “stolen votes”.
Among the new requests in the revised document is the holding of a revote in several provinces, including West Java, Central Java, East Java, Banten, Jakarta, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Papua and Central Kalimantan.
KPU commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari said he would only focus on the relevant arguments and tackle the allegations in the plaintiff’s original document. “The justices are the ones who decide whether to accept or not to accept [the revised petition],” Hasyim said.
The KPU has announced that the official vote count for the presidential election showed that Jokowi and Ma’ruf secured 85 million votes (55.5 percent) to Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno’s 68 million votes (44.5 percent).
The result was immediately challenged by Prabowo, who has claimed victory multiple times.
His rejection of the KPU’s announcement led to his supporters staging rallies in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) headquarters on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta, which descended into riots from the evening of May 21 to the early hours of May 23 that left nine dead and hundreds injured.
Following criticism he did not intervene to prevent or stop the violence, the Gerindra Party chairman has urged his supporters to stay away from the Constitutional Court to prevent another postelection riot before the election dispute hearing starts on Friday. “If you are a Prabowo-Sandiaga [Uno] supporter, then you don’t need to go to the court,” Prabowo said in a five-minute video posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He asked supporters to trust the court and to accept its decision with “maturity, calmness and consideration for the national interest”.
Prabowo also said he did not want any riots to occur, as he and running mate Sandiaga were challenging the election results through legal and constitutional means.
Nevertheless, police have heightened security ahead of Friday’s hearing to maintain order at the court and to ensure that the hearing will proceed smoothly.
“We are coordinating with the TNI [Indonesian Military], the Jakarta administration and the court’s security force to deploy 12,000 personnel around the court on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat,” Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Gatot Eddy Pramono said on Tuesday.
He said that security forces were ready to take additional measures, such as closing Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara and Jl. Harmoni.
“[The road closures] will depend on the situation during the hearing,” he told reporters. (awa)
