The 2019 presidential election has almost crossed the finish line. The General Elections Commission (KPU) completed the national vote tally at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. If Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Sandiaga Uno had accepted the election results, this nation could have moved on to settle its problems and the grassroots could have calmed down.
However, the reality is that the nation must remain patient. After the KPU announced the official results, Prabowo held a press conference to reject them. He has decided to challenge the election results at the Constitutional Court (MK).
We respect Prabowo-Sandi\'s political decision. The MK is an elegant way to resolve the election dispute. The decision to go to the court is a step forward for the Prabowo-Sandi campaign team. Earlier, the public heard from Titiek Soeharto that Prabowo would not go to the court but would instead seek the justice on the streets.
As written in this editorial, Prabowo is taking a rational and constitutional step by challenging the election results at the Constitutional Court. Only through this legal process can the election dispute be resolved gracefully. They should provide evidence, data and witnesses to convince the nine constitutional justices about the course of the election, and not by mobilizing the masses.
It will be an opportunity for the Prabowo-Sandi legal team to prove their claim that the pair received 62 percent of the votes, which was later revised to 54 percent. It will be also the occasion for the pair’s legal team to prove the existence of structured, systematic and massive fraud in the election.
The data, evidences and witnesses will determine whether the Constitutional Court can change the margin of victory of 16.9 million votes that Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin won. According to the official results, Jokowi-Amin garnered 85,607,362 votes (54.50 percent), while Prabowo-Sandi won 68,650,239 (45.50 percent). In 2014, Prabowo also challenged the election results at the Constitutional Court. At that time, the margin of victory was 8.4 million votes.
Thank you to the KPU commissioners, the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), and the polling committees at all levels for completing the electoral process through to the announcement of the election results. A number of polling station officers died after working long hours on election day. Thank you also to the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) for guarding the election until the official announcement.
However, the task is not complete. The National Police and the TNI must continue in closely monitoring the political situation.
Antidemocratic groups must be prevented from using the dissatisfaction over the election that certain groups are feeling for their own interests. In the current situation, the political elite should not incite the public to demonstrate “people’s power”. A public confrontation poses a great risk.
Jokowi, who has received the people\'s mandate, must immediately mend ties. Reconciliation at the elite and grassroots levels should be encouraged. As the head of state, Jokowi can invite all political party leaders to sit down together and mend ties with all people who have been hurt because of the election.