Presidential Tickets’ Legal Teams, KPU Submit Concluding Statements
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The concluding statements of presidential ticket Prabowo Gibran’s team being examined by Court staff, Tuesday (4/16/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.


JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the three pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, represented by their legal teams, filed their concluding statements for the election results disputes with the Constitutional Court (MK). Concurrently, the General Elections Commission (KPU) also submitted its concluding statement.

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The concluding statement by the presidential ticket Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (Anies-Muhaimin) was submitted by Ari Yusuf Amir, head of the Anies-Muhaimin legal team. “Alhamdulillah, today we officially submitted the concluding statement for the proceedings thus far,” he said in a press conference at the Constitutional Court.

All facts and evidence had been presented throughout the proceedings, he continued. Consequently, the team is very optimistic that their petition will be granted by the Court.

“All we have to do now is pray that all of the honorable justices are given the resolution, courage, and steadfastness in rendering the fairest possible decision...,” Ari said.

In addition, he explained that the Anies-Muhaimin legal team had presented numerous fact witnesses and had called upon experts on state finances, administration, survey, IT, and governance, to bolster their case.

“And what brings us the most satisfaction, Alhamdulillah (thank God), is witnessing the earnestness of the honorable panel of justices in examining this case,” he explained.

He also clarified that initially, there were doubts regarding whether the ongoing dispute solely revolved around quantitative results. However, he noted that the constitutional justices have delved into the qualitative substance of the matter.

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Ethics Violations and Nepotism

On the same day, on behalf of the Ganjar-Mahfud legal team, Todung Mulya Lubis submitted their concluding statement.

“We have submitted the concluding statement, here’s the proof—the receipt of the submission to the Constitutional Court,” he said, displaying the receipt of the document handover from the Constitutional Court’s Registrar’s Office.

He said that in the concluding statement, the team highlighted several categories of electoral violations they deem essential for the Court to consider. He added that these violations warrant a revote. The violations include ethics violations and nepotism.

“The ethics violations were glaringly evident. They can be observed through Constitutional Court Decision No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023, which legitimizes the nomination of President Joko Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a vice-presidential candidate. Romo Magnis Suseno clearly stated that a nomination process breaching severe ethics standards constitutes a grave ethical violation,” Lubis emphasized.

The subsequent violation, he continued, was nepotism by President Joko Widodo in promoting his son for the 2024 presidential election. The head of state’s nepotistic action has been deemed to have contravened the TAP MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly’s decree), which explicitly prohibits nepotism in general elections.

“There are numerous laws prohibiting nepotism and President Jokowi’s action of promoting his children and son-in-law clearly meet the definition of nepotism,” he stated.

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Prabowo-Gibran Team’s Optimism

Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s legal team also presented their concluding remarks, with the head of the team, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, delivering the statement.

Yusril expressed confidence that the Court will dismiss the petitions filed by Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud. He cited legal grounds for the Court to reject these petitions.

“Yes, we hold that belief. In the Constitutional Court, they are afforded the utmost freedom to substantiate their accusations. Therefore, the burden of proof lies with them. It’s not incumbent upon us to refute; they must demonstrate proof,” he explained.

However, according to Yusril, the Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud teams have failed to substantiate the alleged electoral violations at the hearings in the Constitutional Court. “But it appears that they were unable to prove it when we presented witnesses and experts; they didn’t even rebut what they petition for,” Yusril continued.

KPU: Election Followed Statutory Law

On the same occasion, the General Elections Commission (KPU), acting as the Respondent, also submitted its conclusion. The concluding statement was presented by KPU commissioner Mochamad Afifuddin. Afif stressed that the conduct of the 2024 presidential election had adhered to the provisions of the Election Law.

“Today, we are submitting our concluding statement, which essentially underscores that none of the petitioners’ arguments and facts presented during the hearings have been substantiated,” he stressed.

He believes the Court will reject the petitions, which will be a fair decision. “That is why the KPU, through this statement, would like to appeal to the honorable constitutional justices to render decisions to declare the petitioners’ petition inadmissible and to reject the petitions in their entirety,” he said.

Afif also expressed hope that the Constitutional Court would uphold KPU Decision No. 360 of 2024. He stated that the KPU had effectively refuted the arguments raised by the petitioners with evidence.

“Throughout the proceedings, the KPU has submitted a total of 139 pieces of evidence, comprising 68 pieces of evidence for Case 1 and 71 pieces of evidence for Case 2,” he explained.

Afif also mentioned that the KPU presented additional evidence, including special incident D-forms from each sub-district.

“If previously we were requested to submit the D-result forms at the subdistrict level, on this occasion, we supplemented our evidence with special incident reports from all locations, particularly focusing on the D-forms at the subdistrict level,” he elucidated.

The same sentiment was echoed by KPU commissioner Idham Holik at a press conference, where he reaffirmed that the KPU had conducted the 2024 presidential election in compliance with Law No. 7 of 2017. Idham is confident that the arguments raised will not alter the outcome of the presidential election.

“We the KPU believe that the election process, particularly the voting, counting, recapitulation, and determination of election results, has been conducted in strict accordance with the laws and regulations. Hence, we are confident that the petitioners’ petitions will not alter the KPU’s decision regarding the election results certification,” he emphasized.

Author         : Utami Argawati
Editor          : Nur R.
Translator     : Fuad Subhan (YW/RA)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.


Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | 17:39 WIB 178