by Mathias Hariyadi

Losing candidates file lawsuit in Constitutional Court, claiming results were tainted by material errors and wrong interpretations of the law. The chief justice does not exclude the possibility of new elections.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A legal battle is raging over the results in the 8 July presidential elections which saw the re-election of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yesterday Mohammad Mahfud, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (pictured), called on Indonesia’s General Election Commission (KPU) to provide him with all the documents necessary to adjudicate the lawsuits filed by the losers in the recent elections.

In a situation where everyone is against everyone, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri (for the Indonesian Democratic Party–Struggle or PDI-P), retired General Prabowo Subianto (for Gerindra), former Vice President Jusuf Kalla (for Golkar) and retired General Wiranto (for Hanura) have all called for the cancellation of the elections.  

The dispute is largely over unregistered voters and their right to cast their ballot, an issue according to the defeated candidates that was not properly addressed by the KPU.

The exact vote tally is also in question as are alleged discriminations against smaller parties.

Given such an uncertain scenario Justice Mahfuz said that if the inquiry goes against the results that led to Yudhoyono’s victory, ballots could be recounted or a runoff could be held with all the major candidates participating.

Gusti Artha from the KPU said he was confident that the result, which has already been officially proclaimed, will be upheld.

Another current political dispute involves seat allocation following last April’s parliamentary elections. Indonesia’s Supreme Court ruled against the KPU’s decision to validate vote counting following the second round of elections.

As a result of the court’s decision the larger parties should get more seats, 31 more for Yudhoyone’s Democratic Party, 25 seats for Golkar and 6 for PDI-P.

However, this week KPU said that the Supreme Court’s ruling cannot be retroactive and change the already proclaimed seat distribution.

• indonesia
• presidential
• parliamentary
• elections
• lawsuit
• constitutional
• supreme
• court
• disputes