Indonesia’s Prabowo to challenge election result in court

The ex-general who lost Indonesia’s presidential election to Joko Widodo will challenge the result in court, his campaign team said Wednesday, A move that could spell weeks of uncertainty for the world's third-biggest democracy. Widodo, the reform-minded governor of Jakarta seen as a break from the autocratic era of the dictator Suharto, was named the winner Tuesday after results showed he resoundingly defeated his only rival Prabowo Subianto. Before the result was announced, Prabowo -- who was a senior general in the years of authoritarian rule and has been dogged by human rights abuse allegations -- angrily announced he was withdrawing from the election process. Prabowo, who had earlier claimed victory in the July 9 election, accused his opponent of cheating in the vote count. Members of his campaign team indicated Tuesday he would not challenge the result in the Constitutional Court, as had been widely expected, because he was no longer a participant in the election, according to AFP.