Prabowo Subianto, the challenger of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the recent presidential election, has urged his supporters to trust in the Constitutional Court judges, who would examine the dispute over the election results submitted by his campaign team.
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Prabowo Subianto, the challenger of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the recent presidential election, has urged his supporters to trust in the Constitutional Court judges, who would examine the dispute over the election results submitted by his campaign team.
Prabowo also asked his supporters not to go to the Constitutional Court during the hearing, which will take place in the next few days.
"Trust in the judges. Whatever the decision, we should respond with maturity and calm, and we should put the interests and integrity of the nation and state above all. That is our position and my request," Prabowo said through a video distributed by the media team of campaign team of Prabowo and his running mate, Sundiaga Uno, or Sandi.
Prabowo asked his supporters to remain cool, calm and peaceful and maintain a sense of brotherhood and family spirit with fellow nationals. "I beg you, sami\'na wa atho\'na, trust the leadership. For this reason, if you really support Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, I beg you not to go to the Constitutional Court," Prabowo said.
The court on Tuesday formally registered a revision of the application document to appeal the results of the presidential election submitted by the Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team. The court will use the document submitted by Prabowo-Sandi\'s attorney team on May 24, while some revisions would be treated as additional material.
The Prabowo-Sandi team submitted a 37-page document as supposed proof when it registered its appeal. However, on Monday, the team filed a revised document containing 146 pages.
Presidential election
The head of the public relations and domestic cooperation department of the Constitutional Court, Fajar Laksono Soeroso, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the judges would consider the revision of the appeal documents. However, Fajar added, the court’s rules on the procedures for settling disputes in presidential elections did not recognize any revision of the appeal documents.
According to him, the court will decide in a preliminary hearing on Friday whether and how the revision documents will be used. The opening session will have a single agenda point, which is to read the appeal request.
Formal errors
One of the points in the revision of the appeal application submitted by the Prabowo-Sandi legal team is related to the alleged failure of the vice-presidential candidate to meet certain requirements. He had not resigned from his position on the supervisory board of Bank BNI Syariah and Bank Mandiri Syariah when he was named the vice-presidential candidate.
The applicant argues he violated Article 227 Letter p of Law No. 7/2017 concerning elections which stipulates that presidential and vice presidential candidates must resign from their position as employees or officials of state owned companies (BUMNs) or local government-owned companies (BUMDs) after being named as candidates.
Related to this, General Elections Commission (KPU) member Hasyim Asy\'ari said Ma\'ruf Amin\'s position was similar to that of Gerindra Party legislative candidate Mirah Sumirat, who was an employee of a BUMN subsidiary. Both qualify as candidates because they are not officials or employees of BUMN.
The KPU refers to Bawaslu decision No. 033/PS.REG/BAWASLU/IX/2018 on mediation of dispute settlement in the electoral process. Thus, the nomination of Ma\'ruf Amin could not be called a violation of the election law.
However, according to a member of Prabowo-Sandi\'s legal team, Denny Indrayana, the Bawaslu\'s decision could not be used for a comparison, because there were stipulations in the ruling clearly stating that, according to the KPU, the legislative candidate should have been disqualified.
"The point is that the KPU once stated that BUMN subsidiary employees did not meet the requirements," Denny said.
Meanwhile, the court will limit the number of visitors during the trial of the presidential election dispute. Each party is only allowed to bring 15 people into the courtroom. Other visitors can attend the trial via television screens provided in a number of tents or access them through internet streaming, videotron or live broadcasts provided by a number of television stations.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla believes a meeting and reconciliation between Jokowi and Prabowo is just waiting for the right moment. "It\'s actually only a matter of time. So, as Pak Prabowo took the case to the Constitutional Court, it was a democratic, constitutional solution. We are waiting for the court results," he said.
Kalla believes both parties will accept whatever the result is. He said he considered Prabowo a very realistic figure, and this would facilitate reconciliation.