Indonesia’s Constitutional Court to begin hearing appeal into election rigging

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court will hold its first hearing today over allegations of rigging during the April 17 general elections by incumbent President Joko Widodo.

The appeal against Widodo, who received 55.5% of the vote, has been brought forward by the right-wing leader of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, Prabowo Subianto, who took 44.5%.

Today’s hearing follows the large-scale protests on May 21 and 22, when eight people died and hundreds were arrested or injured as Subianto’s supporters took to the streets against Widodo’s re-election amid allegations of systemic cheating.

A lack of evidence plagues Subianto’s vote rigging appeal- the result of which will be heard on June 28. Regardless, his supporters are likely to take to the streets. On May 28, the police also revealed an alleged plot by avid Subianto supporters to assassinate four top government officials and a polling agency head in a bid to foment more political instability and undermine Indonesian democracy.

Indonesia’s security forces are preparing to combat any further unrest . 48,000 security officials have been deployed to ensure peace around the precinct surrounding the Constitutional Court along with another 10,000 placed across Jakarta, though unrest is still expected.

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