Something Wrong Has Taken Place in Elections: Observer

Jakarta (Antara) - Constitutional law observer Margarito said testimonies of witnesses at the Constitutional Court (MK) session on presidential election dispute on Friday revealed some violation in the implementation of July 9, 2014, presidential election. "An issue had cropped up in the polling stations, but the organizers did not handle it. Election fraud was questioned at the sub-district electoral committee (PPK) level, but it was ignored. The same thing had also happened at the General Elections Commission (KPU) level, but that was also ignored," Margarito said here on Friday. According to the testimonies of two witnesses from East Java, said Margarito, a serious legal issue had occurred in the province. However, the same indications had not yet emerged from Central Java and Jakarta because witnesses from these regions had not yet testified. "If I had been the judge in charge, the emerging legal conditions will have convinced me that something wrong has happened in East Java," Margarito stated. He said that the legal battle on presidential election dispute filed by the Prabowo-Hatta pair was indeed a battle of pieces of evidence, witnesses, and documents. According to Margarito, the atmosphere that will be created by the lawyers of the petitioner will later be interesting. This is because so far the judges have only focused on figures, such as the number of voters, voters who had exercised their franchise, and valid votes. "So, they have not yet shifted to other issues that are more substantive. If the judges track down deep into the issue, I am sure another story will emerge," he noted. The MK session on Friday had only heard the testimonies of a few witnesses among 25 invited by the Prabowo-Hatta duo. (*)