Wiranto scrambles for evidence

Wiranto scrambles for evidence

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

Lawyers for presidential candidate Wiranto scrambled on Tuesday
to present solid evidence to back up claims their client lost
some 5.4 million votes in the July 5 election.

Constitutional Court judges, who had planned to hold a
marathon hearing on Tuesday, adjourned the session until
Wednesday just four hours after it began because Wiranto's
lawyers were unable to produce convincing evidence.

Wiranto filed a complaint with the court last week, claiming
he lost 5.4 million votes due to irregularities in the vote count
for the election.

Under the Presidential Election Law, the Constitutional Court
must resolve election disputes within two weeks after they are
filed.

A panel of five judges adjourned the session after a four-hour
debate between Wiranto's lawyers and legal counsel for the
General Elections Commission (KPU) in a hearing designed to
examine evidence from the petitioner.

Judge Maruarar Siahaan, who led the panel, told Wiranto's
lawyers that the court would review their claim only if they
could provide solid evidence.

"According to the law, the court must compare evidence from
the petitioner with that from the KPU. Evidence means written
documents about the election results on which we will rule
whether the claim is strong or not," Siahaan said.

The petitioner's lawyers, however, insisted that the court
should not only review written documents but also consider legal
arguments on possible violations during the vote count.

But when lawyers representing the KPU challenged them to
produce compelling evidence, Wiranto's lawyers said they left the
evidence in their office and would present it at the next
hearing.

Deny Kailimang, a KPU lawyer, regretted the failure of
Wiranto's side to present their evidence during the hearing.

"They told the media that they have loads of evidence, so how
could they fail to produce it?" he asked.

Under the Election Law, the court will make its decision by
comparing written documents on the election results submitted by
the petitioner with those from the KPU, which organized the
election.

The official results of the presidential election were
announced on July 26, with Wiranto finishing third with 26.2
million votes, trailing Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with 38.8
million votes and Megawati Soekarnoputri with 31.5 million.

If their claim is proven true, Wiranto would finish second
behind Susilo and thus qualify for the election runoff on Sep.
20.

In another hearing, a panel of three judges heard a number of
claims that Wiranto lost millions of votes in Java, Bali and West
Nusa Tenggara. Most of the claims, however, were not backed up
with hard evidence.

Wiranto lawyer Albert Sagala told the court they found it
difficult to obtain copies of written documents on election
results from the regional General Elections Commissions.

KPU lawyer Amir Syamsuddin told the court that none of
Wiranto's election witnesses objected to the election results at
the poll station, district, provincial or national levels.

A number of supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, including
Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Firman
Jaya Daeli, looked visibly pleased with the hearing.