JakartaPost-Apr 18
The Constitutional Court is enjoying an uptick in public confidence ahead of the highly anticipated rulings on the legal challenges to the result of the February presidential election, according to a survey released on Thursday by Lembaga Survey Indonesia (LSI). It found public trust in the court was on an upward trend from 61 percent in January, the lowest in the last two years, to 73 percent earlier this month, when the court began hearing the cases filed by the two unsuccessful candidates challenging the landslide victory of president-elect Prabowo Subianto. The LSI interviewed by phone some 1,200 people of voting age nationwide from April 7-9, about a week after the court’s first hearing. The results of the survey had a 2.9 percent margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level. The court suffered a major blow over its controversial minimum-age decision last year that effectively enabled Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, to run for vice president on Prabowo’s ticket. The court at the time was led by then-chief justice Anwar Usman, Gibran’s uncle. An ethics probe later found Anwar guilty of an ethics violation for using his position to sway the court’s decision and demoted him from the chief justice position. Anwar is now barred from all election-dispute cases. LSI executive director Djayadi Hanan said the rising trend of public confidence in the Constitutional Court even after it faced heavy public scrutiny over the scandal proved that “the public still places hopes in democratic institutions”. The two losing presidential candidates Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan are challenging the election result and have demanded a revote, claiming that Prabowo’s victory was helped by large-scale electoral fraud and the partisanship of Jokowi. The court is set to read out the rulings next week. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2024/04/18/trust-in-constitutional-court-rises-ahead-of-ruling-on-election-disputes-lsi-survey.html.
