‘Legally groundless’: Indonesian court throws out Prabowo Subianto’s election-rigging claims
- Judges said Prabowo did not prove that he lost the April vote because of widespread cheating and voter fraud
- The court also questioned the quality of the evidence and the credibility of witnesses in a hearing that stretched over nine hours
The country’s constitutional court threw out the case lodged by ex-general Prabowo Subianto, saying he did not prove that he lost the April vote because of widespread cheating and voter fraud.
“The plaintiff’s case is legally groundless,” said chief justice Anwar Usman in the course of ahearing that stretched over nine hours. “We reject [his] demand in its entirety.”
The court earlier said it found no “convincing” evidence to prove Indonesia’s police and military had acted in favour of Widodo and his running mate, as judges on Thursday began reading a 5,000-page ruling on the case.
Jokowi had earlier asked the police and military to explain the government’s programmes to citizens, a move the court deemed an “appropriate” one for the country’s leader and head of the government to make.
“The Court finds that there is no evidence to show that the state apparatus has not been neutral,” Judge Aswanto said. “The President’s request [to explain government’s programme] is appropriate … there was no attempt to ask people to vote for a specific candidate.”
