Indonesia’s top security minister on Wednesday denied accusations by the opposition camp that recent presidential elections were marred by “systematic cheating.’’
Unofficial counts from the April 17 election put incumbent President Joko Widodo on track for a second term with an eight-point lead over opposition candidate Prabowo Subianto.
However, Prabowo has rejected the tally and accused his opponents of widespread attempts at rigging the election.
A member of his campaign team, Said Didu, said that massive, systematic and structural fraud had taken place.
The coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Wiranto, said the accusations were false and were intended to delegitimise election results.
“The government has never had any intention to intervene in the elections, let alone engaging in a systematic, massive and structural conspiracy in favour of one candidite,’’ he told a news conference.
Prabowo has declared that he has won the presidency, saying that actual votes at over 300,000 polling stations showed him leading with 62 per cent.
Official results will not be announced until later in May.
dpa/NAN
