Judges preside over a hearing on the Presidential election result dispute at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Four Indonesian Cabinet members testified on April 5 that no rules were violated in the distribution of government aid during the recent election campaign, despite claims by the two losing Presidential candidates that it was used for the benefit of the election winner.

Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto won the election with 58.6% of the votes, or more than 96 million ballots, more than twice the amount received by each of the two runner-ups in the three-way race, according to the General Election Commission.

The losing candidates — former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo — say the election was marred by irregularities and are asking the Constitutional Court to annul the results and order a revote in separate lawsuits.

They say Mr. Subianto’s victory was the result of widespread fraud and that outgoing President Joko Widodo and his administration bent laws and norms to support Mr. Subianto, with government social aid used as a tool to buy votes.

Indonesian Presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to succeed them, but Mr. Subianto, a former rival of Mr. Widodo who twice lost elections to him before joining his government, ran as his successor. He even chose Mr. Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his Vice-Presidential running mate, even though Mr. Raka did not meet a Constitutional requirement that candidates be at least 40 years old.

Mr. Baswedan and Mr. Pranowo argue that Mr. Raka should have been disqualified and are asking the court to bar him from a revote. Before the election, Mr. Raka was granted a controversial exception to the minimum age requirement by the Constitutional Court, which was then led by Anwar Usman, Mr. Widodo’s brother-in-law. Mr. Usman was later forced to resign as Chief Justice for failing to recuse himself.

Hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic — and Mr. Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces.

A panel of eight Constitutional Court judges summoned Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini to obtain their dispositions, said Chief Justice Suhartoyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

Mr. Effendy denied that the government aid provided from January to June 2024 favoured Mr. Subianto in the February Presidential election, and said it was dispersed to achieve a target of reducing extreme poverty.

Mr. Hartarto, who is also chair of the Golkar Party, part of the coalition supporting Mr. Subianto, said a decline in rice production caused by the El Niño phenomenon made the disbursement of social assistance important. He said the aid aimed to protect the poor and vulnerable from rising commodity prices due to El Niño and global supply chain disruptions.

“The government has to implement strategies to maintain the availability of food supplies and people’s purchasing power,” Mr. Hartarto said, adding that the programme was transparent and would continue to be implemented.

Widely respected Finance Minister Indrawati, a former managing director of the World Bank, said the aid was part of the government budget and had been approved by Parliament.

“Its realisation and payment pattern is no different compared to the previous six-year period,” Ms. Indrawati said. She said the enactment of the 2024 state budget was completed before the electoral commission announced the candidates in the Presidential race.

The case will be decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Mr. Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, is required to recuse himself.

Mr. Subianto himself went to the court twice to challenge the results of the elections he lost to Mr. Widodo, but the court rejected his claims as groundless both times. His refusal to accept the results of the 2019 Presidential election led to violence that left seven dead in Jakarta.

The hearing began on March 28 and the verdict, expected on April 22, cannot be appealed.

By his own admission, Gibran Rakabuming Raka was a “nobody” a few months before Indonesia’s elections.

Now, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo looks set to become the country’s youngest-ever vice president.

Mr. Gibran’s meteoric rise to running mate of president-in-waiting Prabowo Subianto, who declared victory last week, was fuelled by his father’s wild popularity.

“Three months ago I was a nobody. I thank Sir Prabowo who has given room for young people like me,” Mr. Gibran, 36, told a packed arena in the capital Jakarta after polls closed on February 14.

“I believe these high figures were because of the young people.”

Official results show Defence Minister Prabowo’s ticket winning a majority with more than two-thirds of votes counted. The final result is due next month.

Mr. Gibran’s success in the polls has raised questions over the influence of Mr. Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, with critics accusing him of seeking to install a political dynasty before he leaves office.

Growing up Mr. Gibran was set to follow in his father’s furniture salesman footsteps after studying in Singapore and Australia, but he moved into catering and created a business selling traditional Indonesian dishes.

He first stepped into politics while his father was serving as president in 2021, winning the mayorship of Central Java’s Surakarta city — Mr. Jokowi’s old job.

Mr. Gibran ran on behalf of his father’s ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) but later turned his back on it to run with Mr. Prabowo, an ex-general accused of atrocities under the rule of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s.

Mr. Jokowi, barred from a third term, leaves office in October, but the idea of another Widodo carrying on his policies has broad appeal in the country.

Indonesia enjoyed steady growth over his two terms and Mr. Jokowi is enjoying near-record approval ratings, so his tacit support strapped an election rocket to the Prabowo-Gibran ticket.

“When people see Gibran, they will see Jokowi,” said Ujang Komarudin, a political analyst from Jakarta-based Al Azhar University.

But “the big, strategic matters will be determined by Prabowo,” he added.

‘Nepotism is back’

Mr. Gibran’s business and property investments made him a millionaire, according to a 2020 disclosure to the election commission, way above the wealth of most Indonesians.

Critics accuse him of lacking policy ideas and attempting to mask his shortcomings by demeaning opponents and brushing off questions with one-word answers or jokes that fail to hit the mark.

“As a V-P he should be talking about policies,” said Ika Idris, political expert at Monash data and democracy research hub in Jakarta.

“From the way he communicates, he’s not mature enough.”

But in a country where more than half of around 204 million voters are Gen-Zers or millennials, some were attracted to the idea of Mr. Gibran representing young Indonesians in government.

“I’ve heard some good things about Gibran and I voted for him because he’s young, around our age,” said Ester Giay, 29, who works at a foreign diplomatic mission in Jakarta.

“I think, I hope, he’d be good since he’s gonna kinda represent younger people, or our generation.”

When Mr. Jokowi rose to power in 2014, he did so appealing to people as a political outsider from humble Javan beginnings.

But his critics say he and Mr. Gibran are acting like previous leaders in a country long known for its dynastic politics, who have installed relatives into powerful positions to retain their influence.

“I think it’s a combination of his personal desire and what his parents want,” said political analyst Ujang.

Mr. Jokowi’s brother-in-law, then-constitutional court chief justice, changed the rules in October that had barred candidates below the age of 40 from running for high office.

In the event that 72-year-old Mr. Prabowo steps down or is unable to carry out his duties, lawmakers and regional representatives would have three days to swear in Mr. Gibran and two months to choose his V-P.

Observers believe the political princeling is likely already preparing for a presidential run in 2029.

“Once again who you know matters more than one’s merit,” said a staffer from a rival presidential campaign, on condition of anonymity.

“It shows that nepotism is back with a bang in Indonesia.”