Losing Candidates Challenge Indonesian President-Elect's Victory 

The two losing candidates in Indonesia’s presidential election appealed to the country’s highest court Wednesday to overturn the results and stage a new election.

Former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo filed separate complaints to the Constitutional Court after Defense Minister Prabowo was declared the winner of the February 14 election last week.

The electoral commission said Prabowo Subianto won nearly 60% of the vote, more than enough to avoid a runoff election.

During his appearance before the court, Baswedan alleged that outgoing President Joko Widodo distributed social aid during the campaign to influence the election in Prabowo’s favor. He told the justices that such practices will become normal and set a bad precedent if the election results are allowed to stand.

Pranowo used his appeal to ask the court to disqualify Subianto and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, President Widodo’s son.

FILE – Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, left, and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, greet supporters during a gathering in Jakarta, Feb. 14, 2024.

The 37-year-old Raka was named to the ticket after the Constitutional Court exempted him from the minimum age requirement of 40 for general election candidates. The court was headed by the president’s brother-in-law, Anwar Usman, when the ruling was handed down.

Usman has been ordered to recuse himself from any election-related cases that come before the court, after an ethics panel ruled that he committed ethics violations.

The court is expected to hand down its verdict on April 22.

Prabowo faces numerous accusations of human rights violations going back to his days in the army during the 1980s and 1990s, when he was rising through the ranks to become a three-star general before being dismissed over allegations he ordered the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists.

Prabowo denies all the allegations of wrongdoing.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.



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