Olena Wibisana, Bantul – Presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo said Monday he and running mate Mohammad Mahfud MD have no constitutional right to initiate an inquiry by the House of Representatives into alleged widespread fraud in the Feb. 14 election.

Ganjar ranked last in the three-way presidential election, getting just around 16 percent of the vote according to the ongoing tally by the General Election Commission (KPU) and projections by independent pollsters that have conducted quick counts sampling from 2,000 polling stations.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which nominated Ganjar for president, has raised concerns about discrepancies in vote counts and recently demanded the online publication of interim vote tally on the KPU website to be taken down.

While there was no clear indication of "systemic and widespread" voter fraud, rumors about a House inquiry have been on the news in recent weeks.

Ganjar said he will neither stand in the way nor actively participate in efforts to initiate the inquiry.

"The political dynamics in the parliament will continue and there is nothing I can do about it. I and Mr. Mahfud are prohibited from getting involved because we both aren't parliament members," Ganjar said in the Yogyakarta town of Bantul.

However, as a PDI-P member, Ganjar admitted that he was involved in internal discussions about the possibility of initiating an inquiry.

During the candidate registration period, the PDI-P was very critical of rival candidate Prabowo Subianto for picking Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate.

Gibran is the eldest son of President Joko Widodo and both men were key members of the ruling party at that time. Gibran was only eligible to contest after the Constitutional Court amended the minimum age requirement for candidates in less than two weeks before he became a VP candidate.

Prabowo and Gibran are projected to win the election by around 58 percent of the vote based on the interim vote tally.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/ganjar-says-he-has-no-authority-to-initiate-house-inquiry-into-electio