JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The Constitutional Court is expected, on Monday (October 7), to rule on a legal battle over disputed East Java gubernatorial election which gave a victory for Soekarwo, incumbent East Java Governor and politician from President SBY’s Democratic Party.
According to the official site of the Court, www.mahkamahkonstitutisi.go.id, the verdict trial to be held at the Court’s building in Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, will be started at around 3:30 pm of Jakarta time.
The Constitutional Court Deputy Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva likely will lead the trial replacing the non-active Chief Justice Akil Mochtar, who is currently a graft suspect in a graft case related in the handling of post elections disputes. Hamdan will be assisted with two other Constitutional Court Judges, Anwar Usman and Maria Farida Indrati.
The verdict trial will be likely under the public spotlight, especially after Akil Mochtar named as graft suspect by KPK in a graft case related in the handling of post elections disputes of Gunung Mas regency (Central Kalimantan) and Lebak regency (Banten).
As reported earlier, the losing governor candidate Khofifah Indar Parawansa filed a lawsuit to the Court to challenge the results of official counting of East Java election which named Soekarwo as the winner of the election.
In her plea, Khofifah demanded the Court to order re-election in East Java and also disqualify Soekarwo from the race.
Khofifah entered the race with supports from a coalition of PKB and some small parties. Soekarwo, meanwhile, entered the race with supports from a big coalition of 32 parties led by Democratic Party and Golkar Party. Based on official counting conducted by the East Java Election Commission, Soekarwo won the race with 47.25% votes, a far above Khofifah with 37.62% votes. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)