Candidates to file complaints to court over election results
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.