I think I highly laud the decision of Mr Prabowo and Sandi wish to refer it to MK.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has expressed high regard for his contender Prabowo Subianto's decision to challenge the 2019 presidential election result in the Constitutional Court (MK).

"I think I highly laud the decision of Mr Prabowo and Sandi to refer any matter with the MK," Jokowi stated after delivering his victory speech in a kampong cluster in Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Jokowi remarked that filing a lawsuit with the MK to challenge the election result is every citizen's right and is in accordance with the law and Constitution.

He highly supports Prabowo in taking the constitutional route rather than the opposite action.

MK has allowed any party to challenge the election result within three days of its announcement from Tuesday (May 21) to Friday (May 24).

Prabowo-Sandi's National Winning Body (BPN) will challenge the 2019 election result by lodging a lawsuit with MK and preparing requisite materials, Director of Advocacy and Legal of BPN Sufmi Dasco Ahmad stated.

"The meeting reached a decision that the Prabowo-Sandi candidate pair will file a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court," Ahmad confirmed here, Tuesday.

Ahmad noted that in the next few days, his side will ready the lawsuit materials in accordance with the deadline to advance the lawsuit to MK.

Ahmad believes several important considerations were to be submitted to the MK, including the glaring disparities in vote counting.

The Indonesian Election Commission (KPU) had earlier determined the vote tally for the 2019 Election following the overall recapitulation at the national level at the KPU building in the wee hours of Tuesday.

KPU Commissioner Evi Novida Ginting stated that votes for the 2019 Presidential Election from 34 provinces and 130 overseas election committees indicated that pair 01 Jokowi-Ma'ruf had secured 85,607,362 votes, or 55.50 percent, while pair 02 Prabowo-Sandiaga had bagged 68,650,239 votes, or 44.50 percent.

The nationwide voter turnout in the 2019 Presidential Election had reached 199,987,870, whereas 154,257,601 valid votes for the presidential election were recorded.

EDITED BY INE

Translator: Hanni Sofia, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019