Wiranto unable to prove claims, ready to accept ruling

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

Lawyers for presidential candidate Wiranto failed to produce evidence to the Constitutional Court to back up claims their client lost over five million votes in the July 5 presidential election.

Wiranto, who came late to the hearings on Thursday, announced that he will accept the court's decision whatever it is. The decision is expected to be announced on Monday.

The verdict "will be a victory for all of us who have guarded democracy by moving conflict from the streets to the court", he said.

A verdict favoring Wiranto, who finished third in the July election behind Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri, could mean he is eligible to contest the election runoff in September instead of Megawati.

The decision on Monday will mark the first time in the country's history a presidential election dispute has been settled by the courts.

In one of three hearings of Wiranto's case on Thursday, his lawyers told the court they were not prepared to produce additional evidence to back up their claim that Wiranto lost some 27,000 votes in Yogyakarta.

They had presented data on the election results from the General Election Commission (KPU)'s official website, tnp.kpu.go.id.

However, the court does not consider evidence from the Internet.

Lawyer Amir Syamsuddin, representing the KPU, cited the Presidential Election Law on complaints over election results, which says that evidence must constitute documents presented by the petitioner's witnesses at polling stations where irregularities were suspected to have occurred.

In another hearing on Thursday, Wiranto's lawyers claimed their client lost over two million votes in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara.

Yet another session heard testimony from expert witnesses presented by Wiranto.

Constitutional law expert and former KPU member Harun Al Rasyid said the election was "illegitimate" because of a circular issued by the KPU on July 5.

The circular instructed all polling stations to consider as valid ballots that were double-punched, as long as one of the puncture marks was outside the boxes of all of the presidential candidates.

Many polling stations received the circular only after they had finished counting the ballots.

Harun added that the circular had been signed by only one KPU member.