Poll contenders lose at court

Poll contenders lose at court

JAKARTA: Losing candidates in the gubernatorial elections in
Bengkulu and Riau Islands were defeated on Tuesday as the Supreme
Court rejected their challenge to the poll results due to lack of
evidence.

In the first case, a panel of five justices presided over by
Paulus E. Lotulung ruled that Sudirman Ail and his running mate,
Syahrir AB, failed to prove their claim that they had won enough
votes to contest a run-off, scheduled for next month.

The Bengkulu General Elections Commission (KPUD) has announced
that the tickets of Agusrin Najamudin/Syamlan and Muslihan/Rio
Capella are eligible for the run-off.

Earlier in the day, the court upheld the victory of Ismeth
Abdullah and running mate Muhammad Sani in the election for the
Riau Islands governor and deputy governor, at the expense of
plaintiffs Nyat Kadir and Soerya Respationo.

The court ruled that evidence submitted by the plaintiffs was
not related to their case. -- Antara