In the weeks since the April 17 presidential election, failed candidate Prabowo Subianto and his supporters have attempted to delegitimize not just the election but the entire Indonesian government, claiming a massive conspiracy against him that included the court system. Just last week, his campaigners clearly said they would not challenge the results of the election in the Constitutional Court (MK) because they didn't think they would be given a fair hearing.
Prabowo's attempts to undermine the government's credibility arguably provided the foundation for the protests and ensuing riots that have taken place the last two days in Jakarta. But after insisting that they had no legal recourse (thus requiring supporters to use "people power" to overturn the election results), Prabowo's campaign suddenly flip-flopped on Tuesday and said actually they'd sue in MK after all. His campaign says they will submit their suit to the court tomorrow morning.
"According to information from the head of our legal team, Mas Rikrik (Rizkiyana), he said, that tomorrow we will register [our lawsuit] with the Constitutional Court at around 10am," Prabowo campaign spokesperson Andre Rosiade said when contacted by Tempo today.
Andre said their legal team had originally planned to file the lawsuit today but it was pushed back until tomorrow, which is the deadline for submitting a challenge to the election results.
Prabowo also filed a legal challenge to the 2014 election results in the Constitutional Court after losing to President Joko Widodo the first time. The court unanimously dismissed his case, saying it lacked sufficient evidence.
MK spokesperson Fajar Laksono told the CNN Indonesia today that Prabowo's campaign would have to have extremely strong evidence in the form of documents, videos or records of any kind, indicating voter fraud on a scale massive enough to have made a difference in the election.
"The most valid forms of proof, for example, would be evidence from C1 forms (used to record vote capitulations at polling stations) or witnesses who experienced firsthand what happened. Indeed, it is not easy to prove fraud and loss of votes especially if we're talking about 16.5 million votes," Fajar said, referring to the margin of votes Jokowi won by according to the official results from the General Election Commission (KPU).
Fajar said that if the lawsuit was filed tomorrow, hearings on it could begin on June 14 (the delay being caused by the Idul Fitri holiday period) and the entire process could be completed by June 28.
Prabowo and his campaign have absolved themselves of responsibility in regards to the previous nights' riots, claiming they were caused by outside provocateurs. Prabowo did tell his supporters yesterday to remain peaceful and not resort to violence or anarchy, but obviously, some didn't get the message.
Authorities say at least six people have been killed in the rioting in Jakarta over the last two nights and hundreds have been injured. Last night, police arrested 257 suspected of provoking and taking part in the riots and officials say there is strong evidence that many of those captured came from outside of Jakarta and were paid to create chaos during the protests.