I believe that all the justices are good people.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice presidential candidate and running mate of Ganjar Pranowo, Mahfud MD, highlighted the dissenting opinions in the 2024 presidential election dispute verdict as a new phenomenon.

At a press conference in Jakarta on Monday, he pointed out that verdicts in election result disputes in the 2004–2019 presidential elections were always unanimous.

"It is interesting because, throughout MK's history, there was never a dissenting opinion in any election dispute verdict. I have observed MK since its establishment, and there has been no dissenting opinion (in any election verdict) until now," he emphasized.

Mahfud, who served as MK's chief justice from 2008 to 2013, explained that the prevailing judges' code states that dissenting opinions should not emerge in any court ruling concerning political offices.

During past election dispute verdicts, the justices attempted to forge a consensus between those with dissenting opinions and those on the concurring side before announcing the verdict, he explained.

Mahfud said that this was to ensure that the MK justices appeared united.

"It turns out, the differences (among justices) are not reconcilable, causing the dissenting opinion to appear," he added.

Regardless, he will not question the dissenting opinions since they have become a part of Indonesia's legal history.

"I believe that all the justices are good people. The eight justices who decided on this case are, God willing, good people," Mahfud said.

The MK on Monday dismissed the legal challenges to the recent presidential election results filed by Ganjar-Mahfud and Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, upholding the victory of Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

The court ruled that the requests to annul Prabowo-Gibran's election win were legally not reasonable.

Five out of the eight justices ruled against the challenges, and three justices—Saldi Isra, Enny Nurbaningsih, and Arief Hidayat—offered dissenting opinions.

The three dissenting judges argued that the court should instead accept some of the plaintiffs' petitions and order a repeat election in several provinces.

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Translator: Narda Margaretha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Anton Santoso
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