Losing presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, center left, talks to journalist as his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, second left, listens upon their arrival for hearing appeals against the presidential election results, which were lodged by losing candidates, at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, who received nearly 41 million votes, or 24.9 percent, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on March 21, a day after the official results announcement. Another candidate, former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, who was backed by the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, received the smallest share of votes at 27 million, or 16.5 percent. His legal team filed a complaint to the court on March 23.
Anwar Usman, who was the court’s chief justice when the exception was made, is Widodo’s brother-in-law. An ethics panel later forced Usman to resign for failing to recuse himself and for making last-minute changes to the candidacy requirements, but allowed him to remain on the court as long as he does not participate in election-related cases.
He said there are also disturbing practices where regional officials are pressured or given rewards to influence the direction of political choices, as well as misuse of the state’s social assistance, which is actually intended for people’s welfare, “is instead used as a transactional tool to win one of the candidates.”