Han Revanda Putra, Antara, Jakarta – The national campaigning team of Prabowo-Gibran claimed the ethical decision of the General Elections Ethics Council or DKPP against General Elections Commission (KPU) members including Hasyim Asy'ari could be weaponized.
For that reason, the vice head of the Prabowo-Gibran team Habiburokhman explained that the DKPP decision did not annul the candidacy of Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice president of Prabowo Subianto.
"We anticipated that this issue will be weaponized against Prabowo-Gibran. It will be replayed like a broken record by those afraid to lose," he said on Monday.
The DKPP decision, he claimed, only concerned technical issues, which have "no issues in terms of the substance". According to the constitution, Prabowo-Gibran is still registered for the general elections.
Habiburokhman then claimed that prohibiting Gibran Rakabuming from registering would have resulted in a constitutional violation by the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).
In addition, while the registration of the presidential candidacy was held, the House of Representatives was on recess. Thus, he went on, it was understandable that KPU could not coordinate with DPR.
"The members of DPR were in their own electoral district," he said.
Additionally, the revised KPU regulation at the end was approved by DPR. Hence, there was no problem with Gibran's candidacy. "KPU was probably deemed failed to coordinate with DPR optimally," he added.
Hasyim and several members of KPU; Betty Epsilon Idroos, Mochammad Affifudin, Persadaan Harahap, Yulianto Sudrajat, Idham Holik, and August Mellaz, were reported by Demas Brian Wicaksono with case number 135-PKE-DKPP/XII/2023, Iman Munandar B. (136-PKE-DKPP/XII/2023), P.H. Hariyanto (137-PKE-DKPP/XII/2023), and Rumondang Damanik (141-PKE-DKPP/XII/2023).
On October 25, Hasyim Asy'ari and other defendants accepted Gibran's candidacy, which violated KPU Regulation No. 19 of 2023 on presidential and vice presidential candidacy in the general elections. The defendants failed to revise or amend the regulations following the Constitutional Court's decision No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023.