JAKARTA - Indonesia’s losing presidential candidates laid out their court challenge on March 27, alleging interference by the state and urging an election rerun and disqualification of winner Prabowo Subianto.

Former governors Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo said the resounding victory of Defence Minister Prabowo was helped by pressure from a partisan administration on the regional authorities and the mobilisation of social aid as a “transactional tool” to ensure there was only one outcome.

The election in February, Mr Anies said, showed that the world’s third-largest democracy was at risk of sliding back into its authoritarian past. “If we don’t perform corrections right now, then it’ll become a precedent in the future at votes on every level,” he told the Constitutional Court.

“This practice will be perceived as normal, a habit.”

The administration of outgoing President Joko Widodo has rejected allegations it interfered in the election.

Mr Prabowo received nearly 60 per cent of the votes, helped by the tacit backing of his hugely popular former rival, Mr Widodo, promising to continue his agenda of infrastructure modernisation, jobs creation and development of downstream industries for the country’s vast mineral resources.

Mr Anies received 25 per cent of the votes and Mr Ganjar took 16 per cent.

Call for neutrality

Challenges to election outcomes are typical in Indonesia and the court is expected to reach its decision on April 22.

Mr Anies’ team told the court that as a beneficiary of unfair practices, Mr Prabowo should be disqualified from the ballot.

His team urged the judges to order Mr Widodo to act with neutrality in any election rerun and refrain from mobilising the state apparatus or using the state budget to help one candidate.

“Was the 2024 election held freely, honestly and justly?” Mr Anies asked the court. “Allow us to answer: No. What happened was the opposite.”

Mr Prabowo has maintained he won clearly and fairly.

Both candidates’ presentation lacked evidence, his legal team said on March 27, adding that there has never been a rerun of a presidential election in Indonesian history.

Separately, Mr Ganjar’s team called on the Constitutional Court to order an election rerun by June 26 at the latest that disqualifies Mr Prabowo and excludes Mr Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, alleging that his last-minute inclusion for the vice-president’s post on the ticket had unfairly influenced the vote.

Mr Widodo’s “nepotism and abuse of power” regarding the election violated the Constitution, they added, citing Mr Gibran’s candidacy and appointment of his supporters in regional roles.

“Violations in the election are surprising to us because they destroyed our morals, which is an abuse of power,” Mr Ganjar told the court.

Mr Gibran was able to run due to a sudden change of election eligibility rules by the court, with Mr Widodo’s brother-in-law Anwar Usman serving as chief justice.

The judge was reprimanded by an ethics panel for not recusing himself and intentionally allowing unspecified external “intervention” in the case.

Mr Anwar has been barred from presiding over election disputes since an ethics panel found him guilty of violations.

Loyalists of Mr Widodo have defended him and rejected a storm of criticism that he abused his position to ensure Mr Prabowo won as a means of preserving his legacy after a decade in charge.

Election analyst Titi Anggraini said Mr Anies and Mr Ganjar’s complaints about the role of Mr Widodo’s son in the election could be tricky, as the same court was responsible for allowing him to run.

“The people who are presiding over their case are at the centre of the problems surrounding the 2024 elections,” she said. REUTERS