Indonesian court affirms Prabowo's win, rejects appeals against result

It dismisses claim that govt’s social aid influenced voters, among other accusations

- Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

Indonesia's Constitutional Court on April 22 rejected appeals filed by lawyers representing both pairs of candidates who lost in the February presidential election and claimed it was marred by electoral fraud.

The formal count by the General Elections Commission announced on March 20 showed Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Solo Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, had won the election by a landslide.

They received 96,214,691 votes, representing 58.59 per cent of the total ballots cast in a three-way presidential election.

Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan and his running mate, veteran politician Muhaimin Iskandar, one of the two pairs of candidates who lost in the Feb 14 polls, wanted the voting to be conducted again and the court to disqualify Mr Prabowo and Mr Gibran, the elder son of incumbent President Joko Widodo.

"We reject the petition as a whole," said Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo, whose name has only one word, when reading the ruling on the appeal filed by the team of lawyers representing Mr Anies and Mr Muhaimin.

He added that there were dissenting opinions from three of the eight judges on the panel.

Lawyers representing the other losing pair former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo and Professor Mahfud MD, former coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs had filed a separate appeal.

The Constitutional Court also rejected this appeal on April 22, noting that the two appeals are similar in substance.