TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Constitutional law expert from Mulawarman University Herdiansyah Hamzah worried that Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka (Prabowo-Gibran) will co-opt law enforcers if elected as the new head of the Indonesian government. The running pair led a quick count race over their rivals Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud.

“The methods they used to win the election were shabby, so it’s inevitable that they exercise their power in a bad way too,” said Herdiansyah when contacted via WhatsApp message on Sunday.

Herdiansyah said that the position of legal instruments under the president's authority meant that law enforcement officials would be co-opted to follow their will. "Starting from the prosecutor's office, the police, to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)," said Herdiansyah.

Moreover, if Prabowo came to power, he went on, democracy would not only experience involution but would also be co-opted by power.

Herdiansyah gave an example of law and human rights. It would be close to impossible to bring human rights violators to justice if the president was an alleged violator himself.

For the political elites whose interest is merely electoral, their fight was done as the voting count was concluded. However, for the citizens, the fight begins as Probowo is elected.

If democracy wants to run on track, Herdiansyah said the opposition must be strong. However, he believes that civilians cannot depend on the political elites and political parties’ opposition, because “based on our historical experience, the true opposition is on campus and in civil society groups.”

Prabowo-Gibran is currently ahead in the real count of the General Election Commission or KPU with 49,747,461 votes or the equivalent of 57.95 percent.

Based on Tempo's monitoring on the KPU's official website on Sunday morning, the vote counting progress has reached 548,354 out of 823,236 polling stations or TPS (66.61 percent).

In second place, Anies-Muhaimin received 21,013,738 votes or 24.48 percent. Meanwhile, Ganjar-Mahfud is in the last position with 15,084,928 or 17.57 percent.

HAN REVANDA PUTRA

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