Wiranto's lawyers seek more time to gather evidence
Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Suherdjoko, Jakarta/Semarang
Lawyers representing Golkar presidential ticket Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid requested on Monday time to prepare evidence to support their claim that the pair lost 5.4 million votes in the July 5 election, which led to their elimination from the race.
Yan Djuanda Saputra, head of the Wiranto-Solahuddin legal team, told the Constitutional Court during the first hearing of the case that they required time to gather witnesses and evidence, including the manual vote-count conducted by Regional General Elections Commissions (KPUD), which they claimed were inconsistent.
Yan was responding to General Elections Commission (KPU) member Rusadi Kantaprawira, who asked for evidence to prove the plaintiff's allegations that the KPU's poor performance in tabulating votes had denied Wiranto-Solahuddin a place in the runoff, scheduled for Sept. 20
"The margin of votes claimed to have been lost by the plaintiffs is the result of subtracting the number of actual voters recorded by provincial KPU offices from the number of voters registered with the KPU," Rusadi said.
The KPU announced on July 26 that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla finished first with 33.58 percent of votes, followed by incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi with 26.29 percent. Wiranto-Solahuddin came third with 21.22 percent.
Lawyers for Wiranto-Solahuddin claimed their clients should have garnered 31.7 million votes, which would have beat Megawati- Hasyim by about 120,000 votes.
The lawyers said their clients had lost votes in 26 provinces because of the KPU's last-minute decision to allow double- punctured ballots, which were originally considered invalid.
By the time the change was made, however, many thousands of double-punctured ballots had already been thrown out.
"As a result, some of the double-punctured ballots were counted, while others were not," Yan said.
In response, KPU lawyer Amir Syamsuddin questioned the plaintiff's claim, as none of the witnesses for the defense from polling stations all the way to the national level had objected to the election results announced by the commission.
The Wiranto-Solahuddin camp also accused the KPU of turning a deaf ear to a series of electoral violations, including vote- buying.
The two other losing candidates, Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo and Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar, have not challenged the election results.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, when two panels of judges are expected to examine evidence and testimonies from witnesses.
The nine-member panel of judges are expected to deliver a verdict within seven days. The ruling is final and legally binding.
Apart from the Constitutional Court motion, the Wiranto- Solahuddin team has also asked the Supreme Court to annul the KPU circular on the validity of double-punctured ballots, saying it violated the legislation on presidential elections.
If the Supreme Court approves the request, the KPU would be required to conduct a recount.
International and local monitors hailed the country's first direct presidential election, saying it was largely free and fair.
Separately, Hasyim said he was not concerned about the court hearing and that it would not affect his and Megawati's chances for the runoff.
Some 50 police officers guarded the courtroom, which was packed mostly with Wiranto-Solahuddin supporters, along with others for Megawati-Hasyim and KPU members Hamid Awaluddin and Anas Urbaningrum.