Jakarta – Indonesia's General Elections Commission, or KPU, hit back at Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday, emphasizing the integrity of its vote count and saying that the losing candidate's decision to reject the procedure would not stop an official result from being announced by 8 p.m. tonight.
"We regret the walkout, given that [the vote count] will soon be completed," KPU member Hadar Nafis Gumay said on Tuesday afternoon. "But that's the right of every candidate – including candidate number one [Prabowo].
"We just have to go on," Hadar added. "We have to complete our task to count the votes, both the domestic results and from abroad."
Another commissioner said Prabowo's petulant reaction to the KPU result would not prevent an official announcement.
"The election process will keep on running and no one can stop that except a court ruling or the recommendation of the Bawaslu [Elections Supervisory Body]," former KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said, as quoted by Indonesian news portal Metrotvnews.com on Tuesday. MetroTV is owned by Surya Paloh, a senior member of Joko Widodo's coalition.
"Just because a candidate is not willing, does not mean it will have an impact on the result," Abdul said. "The official result that will be announced will still be legitimate."
Rambe K. Zaman, a vote-counting witness from Prabowo's campaign, walked out of the plenary meeting of the KPU. "We reject whatever is being decided by the KPU," Rambe said. "Withdrawing from the presidential election vote-counting process, we hope there will be a fair solution. We will withdraw from this forum after submitting [our objections] to the KPU."
All calm for now
The security situation outside the Central Jakarta headquarters of the KPU remained calm late on Tuesday afternoon after Prabowo rejected the results of the vote count. Very little was happening on the ground at the time of writing.
The Indonesian Trade Union Convention (KSPI) was holding a small Palestinian solidarity rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle a few hundred meters away, but there was no visible mass of Prabowo or Joko supporters.
The KPU headquarters remained under tight security but there were no signs of unrest. Police were taking photos of each other posing in front of armored vehicles and drinking iced tea.
"The rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle has nothing to do with [the election]," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto told the Jakarta Globe. "It started at noon and it's about many things, from Gaza, Palestine. There is also a banner saying that [election monitor] Bawaslu should be fair.
"We're still using the original security standard operating procedure with 3,421 officers on stand by. The third ring still reaches to Hotel Indonesia, Taman Surapati, Tugu Tani and Dukuh Atas," Rikwanto said. "We're waiting for reaction from the walk-out act but we're also anticipating [anything that may happen]. But it's calm at the moment."
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/election-commission-hits-back-prabowo-security-calm-now/