by Mathias Hariyadi

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected allegations of vote rigging and fraud, confirming the result of the elections on July 9. A judgment based on law and not politics. Political scientist in Jakarta: the people want Jokowi. "Clear and fair" expression of democracy. Formation of the government next step.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The July presidential elections "represent what people really thought and wanted" for their national leadership and the victory went to Jokowi because "the people want him"; Now the country must focus on the "big challenges" waiting for him to "make things better in the future".

J. Kristiadi, a political scientist and expert of the prestigious Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta tells AsiaNews he is satisfied with the Constitutional Court (MK) decision yesterday.  After a long deliberation, the Court rejected the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the voting process laid by the challenger Prabowo Subianto.

The Supreme Court confirmed the victory at the presidential elections of the now former governor of Jakarta, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, a rising star in local politics who, in a few years, has climbed from the mayor of a provincial city to the most important position in the country.

Reading the final verdict, the president of the Constitutional Court Zoelva Hamdan stressed that all the claims of the Subianto coalition are "vague and unsubstantiated". He also stated that the court, composed of nine judges, based its decision "on the law" and was not giving any "policy directives" with the ruling.

Throughout the day yesterday, the police guarded the streets of the capital, institutions and corridors of power, for fear of reprisals by supporters of former general in the event of a negative verdict. Subianto loyalists greeted the news with disappointment; waving red and white flags - the party colors and those of Indonesia - they said they will accept the Court decision, adding, however, that it "does not do justice, and does not reflect the true values ​​of Indonesia."

Tantowi Yahya, a former TV star now devoted to politics, spokesman for the Subianto supporters, went so far as to accuse the Supreme Court judges of failing to consider the evidence presented, and announced a staunch opposition to the Jokowi government.

While the Subianto coalition remains highly critical of the judgment, the majority of the country - along with intellectuals and Indonesian political experts - welcomes the confirmation of the Presidency for the former governor of Jakarta. Kristiadi recalls that the election campaign and the voting procedures were carried out regularly, without incident, demonstrating a new maturity. "The success [of Jokowi] is not the result of fraud or vote trading - adds the political scientist - but the result of a clear and fair democracy."

The latest elections in the world's most populous Muslim nation confirm that its main instrument is democracy and law. The CSIS researcher says this clearly demonstrates that modern Indonesian civil society "has shown it is not easily manipulated by other parties to fuel sentiment among different camps on sectarian grounds". The vote has been able to preserve the values ​​of unity in diversity, multiculturalism, religious diversity, which are the foundations of modern Indonesia. This assessment has been echoed by many experts and analysts. Now the next step is the formation of a "credible" government to serve the best interests of the nation.

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