Tomorrow is set to be a crucial day that could shape the landscape of Indonesian politics for the next five years as the Constitutional Court (MK) is set to deliver their decision on the presidential election lawsuit by losing candidate Prabowo Subianto.
The court today confirmed that it has already reached a decision on the lawsuit.
“The deliberation meeting between judges has ended, meaning that a decision has been made. It is ready to be read out, and the council of judges has confirmed that it will be delivered tomorrow,” MK spokesperson Fajar Laksono told reporters today, as quoted by Liputan 6.
MK had until June 28 to render their decision on the lawsuit, meaning that they will deliver it one day ahead of the initial schedule.
The lawsuit was filed by Prabowo and his campaign team earlier in the month following the candidate’s defeat in April’s election, which was officially announced by the General Election Commission (KPU) on May 21.
Most legal experts believe that Prabowo has little to no chance of winning his lawsuit, which seeks to overturn President Joko Widodo’s re-election victory with claims of massive and systemic voting fraud. In a devastating dissection of Prabowo’s case, Professor Simon Butt of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, said the failed candidate’s legal team would need “an evidentiary miracle” to avoid losing in court, just as Prabowo lost a similar MK case in 2014 after he lost to Jokowi the first time.
The hearing has so far been quite an embarrassment for Prabowo’s campaign, with much of the nation’s focus being on the plaintiff’s comically questionable witnesses, particularly one man who violated a detention order in order to testify for Prabowo in court.
Just like on and after May 21 when Prabowo’s defeat was made official, there are once again concerns that the Gerindra chairman’s supporters will stage mass protests in Central Jakarta, this time outside the MK building on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. One Islamic hardline group has predicted that around 100,000 will descend to the streets in support of Prabowo, though the group has been known to overestimate protester numbers before.
National Police Chief Tito Karnavian yesterday publicly forbade any forms of protest outside MK during the final court hearing and the police have said that no permit for large public gatherings in Central Jakarta has been issued. Nevertheless, close to 50,000 police and military personnel are reportedly being deployed in the city ahead of MK’s verdict tomorrow to prevent large scale protests and riots.
