Candidates to file complaints to court over election results

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surabaya

The campaign teams of two presidential and vice presidential candidates are set to file complaints with the Constitutional Court over the results of the July 5 polls.

A lawyer representing the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid ticket, Yan Juanda Saputra, said on Monday the complaints would be filed after the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced the final results next week.

"We are collecting evidence right now but will disclose the details on Thursday," Yan Juanda said.

In Surabaya, the East Java Regional Elections Commission (KPUD) said it was investigating alleged intimidation by the management of state plantation company PTPN XII of its employees to vote for Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi.

A commission member, Aribowo, said the inquiry followed a report from the Wiranto-Solahuddin campaign team in the province.

Campaign team leader Choirul Anam said on Monday a number of PTPN XII employees were ready to testify that company directors asked field administrators during a meeting on June 28 to promote the management's preferred candidates to all 27,000 of the company's employees. Defiant employees would face dismissal, he said.

Choirul added his team also found certain people gave voters around the plantation Rp 75,000 (US$8.42) to Rp 100,000 hours before vote casting.

The team of presidential candidate Amien Rais and running mate Siswono Yudohusodo also plans to challenge election results.

Deputy campaign manager of the team Icu Zukafril claimed the team found the number of eligible voters and the votes counted by the KPU did not match in 17 province across the country.

"There are eight million unidentified votes so far. That must be clarified," he said.

According to the team's calculations, Amien-Siswono secured 20.2 percent after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto-Solahuddin won 20.6 percent and 20.2 percent respectively.

The team's own vote counting placed Megawati-Hasyim in fourth place with 19.8 percent while Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar were fifth with 3.44 percent.

"Our witnesses have refused to countersign the result of the election in the 17 provinces," Icu said.

As of 5 p.m. on Monday the KPU's vote tally showed front- runners Susilo-Kalla leading with 33.5 percent of the vote, with Megawati-Hasyim second (26.2 percent), Wiranto-Solahuddin third (22.1 percent), Amien-Siswono fourth (14.8 percent) and Hamzah- Agum last (3.1 percent). The top two tickets will go to the runoff if no team manages to win an outright majority, including at least 20 percent of the vote in 17 provinces.

The Susilo-Kalla and Megawati-Hasyim tickets have, so far, no plan to file complaints with the Court but are ready to prepare solid evidence to win possible election disputes.

The law on presidential elections says campaign teams can file complaints with the Constitutional Court within three days of the KPU announcing the poll results. The Court has only 14 days within which to settle disputes.