Jakarta, Indonesia — Indonesia’s electoral commission formally declared Prabowo Subianto president-elect in a ceremony on Wednesday, after the country’s highest court rejected challenges to his landslide victory brought by two losing presidential candidates.
Subianto, current Minister of Defense, won the election with 58.6% of the vote, that is, more than 96 million votes, more than double the amount received by either of the other two candidates. But his rivals alleged that his victory had depended on large-scale fraud and widespread state interference.
The authorities blocked the streets leading to the General Electoral Commission compound, where more than 4,200 police and soldiers were deployed. Wearing matching white long-sleeved shirts, Subianto and Vice President-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka greeted supporters as they arrived at the building.
“The race is over… the tough contest, with sometimes heated debates, is over,” Subianto said during the ceremony, which was attended by the country’s political elite, including rival candidate Anies Baswedan and his running mate Muhaimin. Iskandar. “And now our people demand that political leaders work together and collaborate for the well-being of the people and to eliminate poverty and corruption in Indonesia,” Subianto said.
Subianto will take office in October, succeeding the popular Joko Widodo, the country’s first president outside the Jakarta elite.
The General Election Commission certified the election results on March 20, but the formal declaration ceremony was put on hold following legal challenges from rival candidates, former Jakarta governor. Anies Baswedan and the former governor of Central Java. Ganjar Pranowo, who sought to annul the result and demand a new vote.
They also alleged nepotism, questioning the candidacy of outgoing President Joko Widodo’s eldest son, Raka, as Subianto’s running mate.
Baswedan and Pranowo argued that Raka, 37, should have been disqualified because the minimum age for candidates is 40, and asked the court to ban him from voting again. Before the election, the Constitutional Court, then led by Anwar Usman, Widodo’s brother-in-law, granted Raka a controversial exception to that requirement. Usman was subsequently forced to resign as Chief Justice for failing to recuse himself.
In a 5-3 decision, the Constitutional Court rejected the arguments on Monday, saying the losing candidates’ legal teams had failed to prove allegations that Subianto’s victory was the result of widespread fraud. That verdict cannot be appealed.
The case was decided by eight judges instead of the nine members of the full court because Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, had to recuse himself.
Baswedan and Iskandar acknowledged and congratulated Subianto and Raka shortly after the Constitutional Court’s decision was read on Monday, saying that they are committed to upholding the principle of peaceful transfer of power and that “we choose to be part of continuing to build the quality of Indonesian democracy. democracy.”
Pranowo and his running mate, Mohammad Mahfud, also congratulated Subianto.
“We fully accept and respect the decision of the Constitutional Court,” Pranowo said, “whether we like it or not, we have to accept it because it is final, legal and binding.”
Subianto, a longtime commander of Indonesia’s Kopassus special forces, was discharged from the military in 1998 after Kopassus soldiers tortured activists who opposed dictator Suharto, his father-in-law. He was never tried and vehemently denies any involvement, although several of his men were tried and convicted.
He went into self-exile in Jordan before returning and founding the Gerindra Party in early 2008.
In the past, he has worked closely with hardline Islamists to undermine his opponents and previously ran three times for the presidency, twice unsuccessfully contesting his own losses to Widodo.
Subianto’s refusal to accept the results of the 2019 presidential election sparked violence that left nine dead in Jakarta, but he joined the cabinet after Widodo offered him the Defense Ministry in a bid for unity.
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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.