Indonesian Court Upholds Widodo's Victory
Rejecting fraud allegations in the previous month's presidential elections, an Indonesian court Thursday upheld the victory of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo over the Suharto-era general, Prabowo Subianto.
Subianto and his supporters accused Widodo and his party - the Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P) of widespread cheating that included voting irregularities at the 59,000 polling stations, Bloomberg reports. After two weeks of hearings, members of the court spent almost six hours, Thursday, reading excerpts from the nearly 4300-page decision. The court, while ending weeks of political uncertainty in the country, rejected "all requests made by the applicant," said Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva.
During the reading, the situation outside the court had become extremely tense; Police was forced to fire tear gas and water cannons so as to prevent thousands of Prabowo's supporters from entering the court premises, AFP reports. Even though the government had deployed more than 29,000 police personnel to handle the crowd when the verdict was announced, the protesters tried forcing their way past the barbed wire blocking the road to the court. During this tension, three people were injured and four arrested.
This verdict has already proved favorable for the world's third-largest democracy, with Indonesian stocks opening at record highs and the rupiah (Indonesian currency) strengthning just a day after the country's hughest court pavedthe way for Widodo to lead Indonesia - Southeast Asia's largest economy - which has witnessed its worst slowdown since the global financial crisis of late, Reuters reports.
This was the most polarising elections post the end of the authoritarian rule in 1998. On the day of the election, both the candidates - Prabowo and Widodo - declared themselves as winners. However, after a two-week count, it was announced that Widodo had made a six-point victory.
After the results, an agitated Prabowo and his supporters accused Widodo and his party members of having cheated in the elections. However, after Thursday's verdict, Widodo's victory is now indisputable and he will be forming his government October 20.
