VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Constitutional Court's (MK's) nine judges ended their final ruling session here on Thursday at around 9.16 p.m. local time by rejecting in totality the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair's petition on the presidential election result dispute. After a session that lasted nearly nine hours, the conclusion of the court's final ruling was delivered by the MK Chief Justice Anwar Usman in the presence of lawyers of the two presidential and vice presidential camps and related parties.

The MK's final ruling paved the way for confirming the Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin's victory based on the final tally that the General Elections Commission (KPU) had officially announced on May 21, 2019.

The court's nine judges argued that the Prabowo Sandi camp's allegation that they had discovered structured, systematic, and massive electoral frauds in the presidential election could not legally be proven, and therefore, not legally acceptable.

The Prabowo-Sandi pair had filed a petition with the MK on May 23, 2019, after the KPU announced the final result on May 21, 2019.

The final tally declared by the KPU at around 1:28 a.m. local time on May 21 indicated the Jokowi-Amin pair had secured 85 million votes, or 55.5 percent of the national vote, as against the contenders Prabowo-Sandi's 68 million votes, or 44.5 percent.

The Jokowi-Amin pair had declared victory following the KPU's announcement of the final tally, while the Prabowo-Sandi pair rejected the KPU's official tabulation result and challenged it by filing an official complaint with the MK.

Several hundred supporters of the Prabowo-Sandi pair had staged a peaceful rally Wednesday and Thursday demanding a fair decision from the MK.

The demonstrators thronged the Arjuna Wijaya Statue area on Medan Merdeka Barat Road near the National Monument (Monas) Square in Central Jakarta.

As a precautionary measure following the ruling, 47 thousand security personnel from the police, military, and the Jakarta administration have been deployed to secure the MK building and vital installations in Jakarta.

Taking into account the fact that the elections had resulted in a divisive society, the MK ruling is expected to be a final and binding solution.

To this end, the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), Wednesday, appealed to all elements of the nation, especially Muslims, to accept the ruling.

"The MUI appeals to the people, at large, to accept the court's ruling wholeheartedly and sincerely, as it is final and binding," the council's Deputy Chairman, Zainut Tauhid Saadi, told local journalists on Wednesday. (ant)