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Prabowo-Sandiaga evidence weak: Experts
Losing presidential ticket Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno does not have compelling evidence to prove to the Constitutional Court that massive violations occurred during the presidential election that led to the incumbent’s victory
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span>Losing presidential ticket Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno does not have compelling evidence to prove to the Constitutional Court that massive violations occurred during the presidential election that led to the incumbent’s victory.
“About 90 percent of the evidence comprises news items that were initial information and therefore must be further proven,” Veri Junaidi, chairman of judiciary watchdog KoDe Inisiatif, said on Sunday during a discussion.
He said the court would not consider evidence that did not prove structured, systematic and massive violations occurred, noting that if the evidence did not affect a significant number of votes, then the lawsuit would be rejected by the court.
In the lawsuit, the legal team representing Prabowo-Sandiaga provided news items from media organizations and cited expert opinions as evidence.
Speaking during the same event, Bivitri Susanti, a constitutional law expert from Jakarta-based Jentera School of Law, said the justices’ ruling on the election dispute would be based on valid evidence, not expert opinion.
“It is not the public that must be influenced but the justices, and they will not be easily influenced by experts’ opinions as they will look for valid evidence based on the law,” she said.
The justices, for instance, will not easily believe news from credible media organizations and will ask the applicant to provide other forms of evidence, she said.
She also said the court was supposed to handle the election dispute and not prove whether violations occurred in the election process, pointing out that the evidence provided was more about violations.
During the initial hearing on Friday, Prabowo and Sandiaga’s legal team, led by Bambang Widjojanto and Denny Indrayana, requested that the justices accept the team’s revised lawsuit, increasing the number of demands from seven to 15.
The justices said the request would be considered.
Another speaker, a constitutional law expert from Andalas University in West Sumatra, Feri Amsari, said a revised lawsuit was not regulated in Constitutional Court proceedings.
“There is no [regulation] that schedules [the modification of] a request to the justices. If it is not scheduled then it should not be allowed,” he said during the discussion in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Article 475 of the Election Law stipulates that a lawsuit must be filed within three days after election results are announced by the General Elections Commission (KPU). However, the court accepted the revised version of the lawsuit, which will be heard on Friday. (awa)
