Wiranto's lawyers seek more time to gather evidence

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.