SUMMARY
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The court's chief justice, Hamdan Zoelva, said the court was 'rejecting the entire petition from the appellant'
JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – In a widely expected decision, the Constitutional Court on Thursday, August 21, completely rejected former general Prabowo Subianto’s lawsuit challenging the results of Indonesia’s presidential election.
The 9 justices took turns over almost 7 hours reading different parts of the verdict – which is final and binding – that essentially stated Prabowo’s allegations of massive, structural and systematic electoral fraud were not proven.
The court’s chief justice, Hamdan Zoelva, said the court was “rejecting the entire petition from the appellant”. There were no dissenting opinions.
In a key point, the court ruled that the General Election Commission’s (KPU) implementation of the special voter’s list for unregistered voters, known as DPKTb, was legal. Prabowi’s camp had argued KPU’s implementation did not follow the law, but the court ruled that the election commission had the authority to decide on that. (READ: Prabowo’s lawyer: Our evidence is too strong to reject)
The court also declared as valid the use of Papua’s traditional noken voting system, where leaders vote on behalf of the entire tribe, and said no revote was warranted.
Affirms Jokowi win
The decision affirms the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) July 22 declaration of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and running mate Jusuf Kalla as winners of the divisive presidential election with 53.15% of the votes cast, or an 8.4 million lead over Prabowo and his running mate Hatta Rajasa.
A spokesman for outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said ahead of the verdict that the leader hoped the ruling “will be accepted by all the Indonesian people”.
In a press conference after the verdict was announced, Prabowo team spokesperson Tantowi Yahya said they believed that while the court decision was final, it was not just.
Prabowo himself was not present at the press conference as he was reportedly visiting supporters at the hospital who were injured in clashes with the police earlier in the day.
Protests
Around 4,000 police armed with anti-riot gear on duty kept the estimated 5,000 pro-Prabowo supporters away from the Constitutional Court building. The road to the court had been sealed off for the verdict.
At around 2:30pm, shortly after the court justices began reading the verdict, protesters tried to break through the police barricade, and police personnel responded with water cannons and tear gas. The situation quickly calmed down, but a number of protesters were arrested. (READ: Tear gas, water cannons used against Prabowo supporters)
A lawyer for the Prabowo team, Eggi Sujana, said the verdict violated the people’s sense of justice. “Justice will find a way. Street justice for example. This will trigger radicalization among Prabowo’s supporters,” Eggi said
.
‘No reconciliation’
Prabowo’s camp has previously vowed “there won’t be any reconciliation” with Jokowi’s camp regardless of the court’s decision. (READ: The betrayal at the heart of Prabowo’s challenge)
Aside from the lawsuit, Prabowo has also filed both administrative and criminal charges against KPU, though these are not expected to change the election outcome either.
In the political arena, party members and allies in the House of Representatives have begun plans to set up a special inquiry into the election results. This could potentially be more disruptive, as Prabowo’s coalition currently controls the majority in the legislature and could also block Jokowi’s agenda.
However, some of the parties in Prabowo’s so-called permanent coalition are expected to jump ship and announce support for the president-elect after the court verdict on Thursday.– with reports from Bayu and Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
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