The Indonesian Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday established three panels to review disputes regarding the country's April 9 legislative elections. The MK and the General Elections Commission (KPU) formed the panels in expectation of challenges to the election results, announced by the KPU on May 9, including accusations of electoral fraud. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Indonesia's largest opposition party, won the election with 18.95 percent of the popular vote but failed to secure the necessary 25 percent of the vote necessary to place their candidate as president without a coalition with other parties.

The former chief justice of the MK was arrested on corruption charges in October, having allegedly accepted over $250,000 USD in bribes that may have been linked to disputed elections. In March 2013 Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, urged Indonesian authorities to restrict the use of capital punishment, claiming that more than half of death penalty sentences are handed down for drug charges. A group of UN human rights experts in February 2013 called on Indonesia to amend a bill they claim would unfairly limit the rights of assembly, speech and religion of private organizations.

(Published by Jurist – May 12, 2014)