The ex-general who lost Indonesia’s presidential election to Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will challenge the result in court, his campaign team said yesterday, a move that could spell weeks of uncertainty for the world’s third-biggest democracy.
Widodo was named the winner on Tuesday after results showed he resoundingly defeated his only rival, General Prabowo Subianto. Before the result was announced, Prabowo — who was a senior general in the years of authoritarian rule and has been dogged by human rights abuse allegations — angrily announced he was withdrawing from the election process.
Prabowo, who had earlier claimed victory in the July 9 election, accused his opponent of cheating in the vote count.
Photo: EPA
In a surprise announcement on Wednesday, Prabowo team spokesman Tantowi Yahya announced the decision to contest the result and said a challenge would be filed within three days.
Analysts do not expect a court challenge to succeed given the size of Widodo’s victory — he won by 6 percentage points, or about 8.4 million votes — but it nevertheless signals weeks of uncertainty, as the court will likely issue a ruling on Aug. 21.
Yahya said the challenge would be directed at the Indonesian Election Commission, which Prabowo has accused of mishandling the vote, adding his side considered 21 million votes to be in dispute.
Prabowo’s brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, a wealthy businessman who has provided financial backing for the campaign, added: “We are looking for justice ... we are expecting some fairness.”
Djojohadikusumo also urged foreign leaders not to congratulate Widodo, as “the legal process has not ended yet.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott are among those who have already sent congratulations.
Widodo seemed unperturbed by his rival’s challenge and returned to his duties as Jakarta governor at city hall yesterday. He will not be inaugurated as president until October.
He said preparations for his new job were “in progress” and a special office to help with the transition had already been set up.
Newspapers welcomed his victory, with the major Indonesian-language paper, Kompas, showing a photo of a grinning Widodo alongside his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, under the headline: “It’s time to move together.”
The words were from Widodo’s victory speech delivered late on Tuesday, in which he urged Indonesia to unite following the country’s tightest and most divisive election since the downfall of Suharto in 1998.
An Indonesian Constitutional Court official said that if Prabowo’s team filed the appeal by tomorrow, then hearings would begin on Aug. 6 and a ruling would be delivered on Aug. 21.
There have been concerns about the court’s impartiality after its former chief justice was jailed for life last month for accepting bribes in return for favorable rulings in local election disputes. However, analysts believe the institution will be desperate to appear clean following the scandal.
The court would also be unlikely to shift such a large number of votes from one candidate to another, said Yohanes Sulaiman, an analyst from the Indonesian Defense University.
Despite Prabowo’s claims of cheating, observers in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation have said the the poll was largely free and fair.
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