A presidential election challenge is denied by an Indonesian court

A challenge to Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto’s victory in the presidential election was denied by Indonesia’s constitutional court on Monday. Subianto’s primary opponent claimed that regulations had been illegally altered to let the departing leader’s son to run as his vice president.

With 58.6% of the vote, Prabowo, 72, defeated a third opponent and Anies Baswedan, the former governor of Jakarta, to become the country’s next leader in February.

Allegations that outgoing leader Joko Widodo, often known as Jokowi, had meddled in an attempt to strengthen Prabowo’s campaign hampered the president-elect’s campaign.

In order to enable his oldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run for vice president, he was accused of manipulating rule changes.

After the official results were released, Anies, who got 24.9% of the vote, refused to accept defeat, accusing the government of interfering to support Prabowo’s victory and demanding a rerun.

He said that the state had meddled to manipulate Prabowo’s victory, using social assistance payments to influence voters.

But the court dismissed his suit, saying there was insufficient evidence of nepotism or government meddling.

“The exception (filed by Anies) was denied by the court in its entirety. rejected the appeal in its entirety,” the chief justice, known only as Suhartoyo, said.

Third-place finisher Ganjar Pranowo, who received around 16 percent of the vote, also refused to accept the outcome and took legal action to contest it. His objection is pending a decision from the court.

Following his brother-in-law, Anwar Usman, the chief judge at the time,’s October order that lowered the age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates and let 36-year-old Gibran to compete with Prabowo, Jokowi came under fire.

The eligibility criteria were relaxed to include candidates under 40 to contest if they have won an elected office. Gibran is the mayor of Surakarta, a city in Java.

After joining Prabowo’s team, Gibran gave the campaign an electoral boost that sent the defense minister’s polling ratings skyrocketing in the months that followed.

Therefore, it was generally expected that Prabowo, who had lost in 2014 and 2019, would win the presidency on his third try.

After a transition phase, he is scheduled to take over in October. He has rejected the accusations made by his opponents as unfounded.