Indonesia's Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, 72, was officially declared the winner of the country's 2024 presidential election on Mar. 20, 2024.

Prabowo is expected to take office in October 2024, however, his rivals Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan are not backing down without a fight.

Both Ganjar and Anies have mounted cases against Prabowo, challenging his victory, and are calling for a new election.

Ganjar's legal team calling for Prabowo-Gibran to be disqualified

Ganjar's legal team filed a complaint against Prabowo and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, demanding for the pair's disqualification, at Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Mar. 23, 2024, according to Tempo.

Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer in Ganjar's legal team, told the media after submitting the case at the Constitutional Court that the election was tainted with nepotism and "a coordinated abuse of power".

He also said in a statement that Prabowo and in turn, Gibran, should be disqualified as the former's registration in the election had supposedly violated legal and ethical provisions, Reuters reported.

As a result, Todung said there should be a re-election.

Ganjar's legal team also complained about a supposed "politicisation of social aid" and an alleged abuse of the Election Commission’s information technology system.

Anies' legal team seeking re-election, but without Gibran

Anies' legal team is also seeking a re-election, and had separately submitted their case to Indonesia's Constitutional Court earlier on Mar. 21, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.

The crux of Anies' legal team's complaint is that the rules were "unfairly changed" for "the problematic vice presidential candidate" Gibran, who is the eldest son of the current President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

The 36-year-old Gibran only became eligible to run in the 2024 election after the Constitutional Court ruled that candidates who have previously held an elected regional office need not meet the minimum age of 40.

Following the ruling, Chief Justice Anwar Usman, who happens to be Jokowi's brother-in-law, was demoted for a "serious ethical violation".

Incidentally, Jokowi, who is due to pass the baton to Prabowo, was accused of influencing and interfering in the 2024 presidential election, such as distributing social assistance in person.

Jokowi, his allies, and Indonesian authorities have repeatedly denied Jokowi's interference in Indonesia's 2024 presidential election.

However, not everyone is convinced.

DW quoted Anies' legal team saying: "We also asked the Constitutional Court to order the president to stop meddling in the next process of the election."

Ganjar's legal team raised a similar complaint about the eligibility of Gibran's candidacy, and further alleged that state funds were used to buy votes for him and Prabowo, and a few regional leaders and village heads were intimidated into voting for them.

Case against Prabowo-Gibran to be heard by Apr. 22

A spokesperson for Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU) said they are currently preparing for the election dispute hearings. The hearings will go before the Constitutional Court, Tempo reported.

Constitutional Court spokesperson Fajar Laksono Suroso said Ganjar and Anies' complaints would be heard by Apr. 22 and a final verdict that cannot be appealed would be made on May 7, the Associated Press reported.

Prabowo's lawyer for his campaign, Yusril Mahendra, said his team of over 30 lawyers is ready to face any legal challenges.

Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the call for an election re-run.

KPU tallies show Prabowo won by a landslide

On Mar. 20, KPU released the official vote count from the Feb. 14 election, where a total of 164,227,475 votes were cast.

The Prabowo-Gibran ticket secured 58.6 per cent of the total vote, or 96.2 million votes.

Coming in at a distant second were Anies and his running mate, Muhaimin Iskandar, at 24.9 per cent of the votes, or nearly 41 million votes.

Ganjar and his running mate, Mahfud MD, came in last at 16.5 per cent of the total vote, about 27 million votes.

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Top image from @prabowo/Instagram, Tribun News, and CNN Indonesia