Indonesian presidential election Anies Baswedan filed a complaint with the country’s constitutional court on Thursday against Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto’s landslide victory following allegations of irregularities and fraud.
Prabowo, 72, was confirmed as the next leader of the world’s third-largest democracy on Wednesday, defeating former Jakarta governor Anies and a third rival with 58.6 percent of the vote—enough to secure a majority in the first round.
However, the campaign was mired in allegations that outgoing leader Joko Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi, was interfering in the bid to establish a political dynasty as his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka ran as Prabowo’s vice president.
“We have officially filed an election dispute with the Constitutional Court,” Anies’ legal chief, Ari Yusuf Amir, told reporters outside the campaign headquarters.
“At 1:00 this morning (Wednesday 18:00 GMT), we submitted the registration online and currently our team is at the Constitutional Court processing the administrative requests.”
Anies’ team said the complaint aims to improve future elections and Indonesia’s fledgling democracy, which emerged from decades of autocratic rule in the late 1990s.
Jokowi was criticized after his brother-in-law, then-Chief Justice Anwar Usman, issued a ruling in October lowering the age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates, allowing Jibran to run with Prabow.
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Anies – who won 24.9 percent of the vote, refused to concede after the results were officially announced on Wednesday, condemning the winner’s path to victory.
“A leadership born out of a process marred by fraud and abuse will result in a regime that will produce politics full of injustice, and we do not want that to happen,” he said in a statement.
Anies’ colleague Muhaimin Iskandar said on Wednesday night that the alleged irregularities involved “regulatory engineering of intervention by state apparatuses.”
Prabowo was widely predicted to win the presidency in his third attempt after losing in 2014 and 2019.
His legal team was confident that the result would not be successfully challenged due to his majority and landslide victory, local media reported.
