26 Jul 2009

Indonesia poll result to be challenged

9:59 am on 26 July 2009

One of the defeated candidates in the presidential election in Indonesia is to challenge the result.

A party spokesman says former president Megawati Sukarnoputri believed that there were "unresolved legal issues" over the vote on 8 July.

Mrs Megawati secured 26.8% of the vote, compared to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 60.8%.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla received 12.4% of the vote.

Mrs Megawati boycotted the formal announcement of results from the election commission on Saturday.

The spokesman said the campaign would lodge a challenge with the Constitutional Court.

Both defeated candidates claimed that the voter lists were flawed in the run-up to the elections, with duplicate names and those of dead people appearing on the electoral rolls.

The BBC reports the Election Supervisory Body has acknowledged the problems.

Mr Yudhoyono said the candidates had the right to an appeal. He was first elected president in 2004.