Prabowo did not quit the race, says lawyer

JAKARTA. After delivering a speech indicating that he had withdrawn from the presidential race, the Gerindra Party’s presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, said he had only rejected the vote tally by the General Elections Commission (KPU) as opposed to quitting the race.

Prabowo’s campaign team lawyer, Mahendradatta, said on Wednesday that Prabowo’s speech had created the misperception that the former general had quit the race when, in fact, he merely withdrew himself from the recapitulation process and refused to accept the KPU’s decision.

“Prabowo stated his intention clearly that he was not withdrawing from the election, so the legal intention will be that he has the right to take his case to the Constitutional Court,” he told a press conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Central Jakarta.

Prabowo made his statement on Tuesday as the KPU was concluding its final vote recapitulation. In his speech, Prabowo instructed all the members of his campaign team taking part in the KPU’s plenary session to walk out in protest.

"The 2014 presidential election overseen by the KPU was riddled with problems. It was undemocratic and contravened the 1945 Constitution,” Prabowo said at his campaign headquarters, Polonia House, in East Jakarta on Tuesday.

Prabowo’s eleventh-hour decision was based on what he considered indications of foul play found by his campaign team. In his speech, however, Prabowo failed to back up his vote-rigging allegations with any proof.

He said during the speech that he had five arguments to back up his claim that the election was rigged, with the KPU not being fair or transparent as the main one.

“A lot of the regulations they [the KPU] made violated themselves,” Prabowo said.