Wiranto unable to prove claims, ready to accept ruling

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.