Towards May 22

· 3 minutes read

Two days before the announcement of the results of the manual count of the presidential and legislative elections on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, the political tension has increased.

Supporters of the presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, made several statements that raised questions in the community. Berkarya Party politician Titiek Soeharto, for example, said that Prabowo and Sandi would not challenge the election results through the Constitutional Court (MK), but rather would take to the streets.

Gerindra Party politicians called on Prabowo-Sandi supporters not to pay taxes. Prabowo also said he would reject the 2019 election results, saying it was full of cheating. However, even though it was considered fraudulent, the Prabowo-Sandi campaign team claimed it won 54 percent of the votes, according to their own calculations.

On the first day of the election, Prabowo claimed to have won 62 percent. Prabowo\'s and his campaign team’s statement showed inconsistency, but that was political postering.

The simultaneous elections on April 17, 2019 were also for legislative elections. Rejecting presidential elections considered fraudulent, while at the same time accepting the legislative elections, shows other inconsistency. The call for "not paying taxes" also shows disobedience to the rule of law.

The political atmosphere, plus the false news on social media, has increasingly heightened the political tension ahead of May 22, 2019. The General Elections Commission (KPU), the only institution given the authority to announce election results, has almost concluded the count for all provinces. Manual recounts are to be completed this Monday.

May 22 is only the deadline. The preliminary results of the manual count show that Joko Widodo and Ma\'ruf Amin obtained 54 to 55 percent of the votes. The results are in line with the situng, based on the C1 forms. The KPU has the right to announce election results, not one-sided claims.

The tone of the political situation ahead of the announcement of the results of the 2019 Election was the same during the 2014 election. In the 2014 election, Prabowo and Hatta Rajasa rejected the election results because they considered them fraudulent. They challenged them in the Constitutional Court. The Court refused to side with them. However, Prabowo attended the MPR general session during the inauguration of Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla. Prabowo\'s gesture in 2014 received appreciation.

Questioning the results of an election through the Constitutional Court is one of the most important steps in a democratic country to reveal alleged fraud. Let the Court be the final judge. We believe that Prabowo’s team, especially Sandiaga, is thinking rationally when contesting the results of the 2019 election. Sandiaga still has a long political future.

People power was actually witnessed on April 17, 2019. That was a real people\'s sovereignty movement. About 150 million people were moved to vote. The calls for people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the legitimate elections are OK as a form of political participation. However, the political elite still needs to consider the possibility of demonstrations being infiltrated by antidemocratic groups. The political elite still has to honor and love the Republic.

Travel warnings have been issued by a number of embassies, including the United States, ahead of May 22, 2019. The warnings are reasonable to protect their citizens in Indonesia. We encourage the National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI), as well as party leaders and mass organizations, to protect themselves and maintain security stability in the country.

Editor:

kompascetak