Jakarta. The Constitutional Court turned down a motion by defeated presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, who sought to annul the election result and have a revote in a 5-3 ruling on Monday.

Anies and his running mate, Muhaimin Iskandar, accused President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo of election interference by allowing his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to become a ticket mate for eventual winner Prabowo Subianto and intensifying government social aid to sway voters for the pair.

They also alleged favoritism because Gibran was made eligible as the vice-presidential candidate only after the Constitutional Court amended the minimum age requirement in an October hearing presided over by then Chief Justice Anwar Usman, who is also Gibran’s uncle.

The plaintiffs demanded the court annul the election results, order a redo election, and disqualify Gibran in the event of a revote.

However, five justices ruled that the motion lacked legal grounds and evidence. They include Chief Justice Suhartoyo, Daniel Yusmic Pancastaki Foekh, Guntur Hamzah, Ridwan Mansyur, and Arsul Sani.

Justice Arsul Sani said the plaintiffs only presented media clippings and TV news clips but failed to deliver actual evidence and competent witnesses to support their claims during previous hearings.

Furthermore, the compilations of media reports didn’t explain any specific voter fraud or favoritism by the Jokowi government before and during the election, Asrul said.

Chief Justice Suhartoyo said the motion was “denied in its entirety”.

Three justices -- Saldi Isra, Enny Nurbaningsih, and Arief Hidayat -- gave dissenting opinions, although they didn’t go as far as to annul the election result, in which Prabowo won by 58 percent of the vote.

Justice Saldi Isra said the government’s intensified social aid before the election had given an “electoral incentive” to Prabowo and Gibran and argued that a revote should be held in certain electoral districts where government officials have failed to show impartiality.

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