Anies Baswedan to challenge election outcome at Constitutional Court

Indonesian presidential candidate Anies Baswedan announced on Wednesday (13 Mar) his intention to challenge the outcome of last month’s election at the country’s Constitutional Court.

Unofficial results revealed that Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who enjoyed the tacit support of incumbent President Joko Widodo, secured nearly 60% of the votes in the 14 February poll.

Anies, the former governor of Jakarta, disclosed his plan to file a complaint following the announcement of official results, although he refrained from providing further details.

“We plan to file to (Constitutional Court) for sure but the content is not something that we can disclose,” he conveyed to reporters.

This decision coincides with efforts by parties backing Anies and another presidential contender, Ganjar Pranowo, to initiate a parliamentary inquiry into the government’s actions leading up to the election day and alleged electoral irregularities.

The significance of this issue has been underscored in the documentary film “Dirty Vote,” which delves into alleged fraud during the 2024 general election.

The film explores the misuse of power through nepotism, a practice deemed incompatible with democratic principles.

Concerns about President Jokowi’s neutrality have arisen due to his son, Gibran Rakabuming, participating in the 2024 general election.

Allegations suggest that Jokowi may be leveraging his power and resources to support Gibran’s campaign. One area of contention is the distribution of social assistance, known as Bansos, before the election.

Ahead of the 2024 election, there has been a significant increase in the distribution of Bansos.

President Jokowi and his ministers, who are part of the campaign team for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, are accused of using these social assistance programs to bolster their electoral campaign.

Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming leads presidential race as real count results favor victory

Prabowo Subianto has seemingly secured victory in his bid for the presidency on his third attempt, alongside his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming.

The declaration of their triumph was based on real count results provided by the civil society organization overseeing the election, kawalpemilu.org.

Kawalpemilu.org stated on Monday (11 Mar), “The real count of KawalPemilu 2024 vote count results still has 17.3 percent coverage of the polling places. However, this will not change the preliminary count results. Therefore, we congratulate candidate pair number 2 who won one round with more than 50 percent in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

At the time of the declaration of victory for Prabowo-Gibran, only 82.41 percent of the data had been entered into the election monitoring system.

Elina Ciptadi, Co-Founder of Kawalpemilu, explained that the victory was projected based on the estimation of the remaining votes yet to be received.

“This is a combination of several factors, first is the calculation of projections,” Elina stated.

Currently, 135 million votes have been tallied, with an estimated 28.8 million votes still pending.

According to projections, Prabowo-Gibran would need to secure an additional 3 million votes from the remaining 28.8 million to secure victory.

“Candidate pair number 2 is currently leading with 58.45 percent or 78.9 million votes. They will secure victory if they can obtain an additional 3 million votes,” Elina explained.

The remaining uncounted votes are predominantly from areas where Prabowo-Gibran have shown strong performance, such as East Java, West Java, and North Sumatra.

⚠️ KENAPA SATU PUTARAN?

Cakupan per hari ini: 135jt suara, mencakup 82.41% tps
Proyeksi suara pending sekitar 28,8jt (17,6% TPS)

Proyeksi total suara sah = 163,8jt

— KawalPemilu (@KawalPemilu_org) March 12, 2024

Presidential candidate number 1, Anies Baswedan, emphasized that the official announcement of the 2024 presidential election results falls within the jurisdiction of the General Election Commission (KPU).

This assertion comes in light of the real count results released by kawalpemilu.org, declaring presidential candidate pair number 2, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as the victors.

“Only the KPU has the authority to declare the results. We will patiently await their announcement,” Anies stated on Wednesday (13 March).

Anies reiterated that his party would provide a response following the KPU’s official declaration. Nevertheless, he expressed gratitude and respect for election observers from civil society.

Meanwhile, the General Election Commission (KPU) has ratified the vote recapitulation in 18 provinces, with Prabowo-Gibran maintaining their lead.

The official announcement of the general election results is scheduled to be made no later than 20 March 2024.