TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The legal team of Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (AMIN) campaign team has officially lodged a petition to challenge the presidential election results at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

“If the Constitutional Court accepts it, we hope that a re-election will be conducted without the participation of the current vice presidential candidate number 02 (Gibran Rakabuming Raka),” the legal team’s head Ari Yusuf Amir said at the Constitutional Court building in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

He justified this request by highlighting the problematic nature of Gibran's candidacy since the onset of the election process. He said that President Jokowi’s eldest son could be replaced by anyone so that the presidential and vice presidential candidates could compete honestly, fairly, and freely in the election.

The polemic over Gibran's candidacy began when the Constitutional Court headed by his uncle, Anwar Usman, ruled in favor of a university student Almas Tsaqibbirru, allowing a candidate under 40 to run for the presidential election provided they had experience as a regional head.

“The process was problematic from the beginning, and the follow-up problem became extraordinary because the vice presidential candidate happened to be the president’s son, causing significant impacts,” Ari Yusuf remarked.

He explained that his team would outline these impacts and facts in the petition. “The massive distribution of social assistance, the involvement of election organizers and government officials [during the election campaign], [are among the issues] we will explain in our petition,” Ari Yusuf concluded.

AMELIA RAHIMA SARI

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