Security Tightened Around Court Before Election Dispute Final Hearing

Jakarta, Aug 19 (Antara) - Security will be beefed up around the Constitutional Court (MK) ahead of the final hearing of the presidential election dispute on Thursday (Aug 21), National Police Chief General Sutarman stated here on Tuesday. "Starting today (Aug 19), we will tighten security arrangements around the MK building. About 2.2 thousand personnel are going to be deployed at strategic positions," Sutarman remarked. The police will also be deployed at other strategic places such as shopping malls and the National Monument, which is located next to the MK building in Central Jakarta, Sutarman noted. With regard to the possibility of closing main roads leading to the MK building, Sutarman explained that it will depend on the situation on the field. On July 22, the General Elections Commission officially announced that the Jokowi-JK pair had won the 2014 presidential election. The Jokowi-JK pair received 53.15 percent of the votes, while the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa pair garnered 46.85 percent of the votes. However, Prabowo had rejected the result, alleging massive fraud during the elections and announced his withdrawal from the election process. On July 25, the Prabowo-Hatta pair filed a lawsuit in the MK, challenging the presidential election result. According to the law, the MK must issue a verdict no later than August 21, 2014.