Indonesia Presidential Election Court Case: Prabowo Subianto vs Jokowi
As is known, presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto did not accept his defeat in Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election and pledged to challenge the election result in the country’s Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi). In last month’s presidential race, Subianto was defeated by Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi) by 53.15 percent to 46.85 percent. However, the defeated contender claims that there have been many cases of fraud or violations at the polling stations on Election Day (9 July 2014).
The first hearing at Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is scheduled for Wednesday (06/08). In this hearing, the Court will listen to the explanation and statements of the Subianto camp (which includes vice presidential candidate Hatta Rajasa) which explain why they challenge the election result. After hearing these statements, the Court judge will advise the Subianto camp whether the indictment needs to be refined. In case the indictment needs to be refined, then the Subianto camp has time until the following day to submit the improvement indictment.
On Friday (08/08), the Court will accept the (improved) indictment and will hear testimonies of witnesses, including Indonesia’s Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), as well as argumentation and evidence presented by the Subianto camp. This part will take about seven working days. Then, the Court will need about four days to analyse evidence and hearings, and prepare its final verdict. On Friday (22/08), the Court is expected to announce its verdict. There can be no appeal against this verdict.