A former general’s landslide win over incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia’s presidential election is final despite complaints from her party of vote fraud, the Constitutional Court said yesterday. Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie told reporters he hoped no complaints would be lodged over the result. The independent election commission, known as the KPU, said on Monday that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had won Indonesia’s first direct leadership ballot by a crushing 25 million votes. Both local and foreign monitors have said the vote was fair.

Asked what he would say at a scheduled announcement later yesterday, Asshiddiqie said: “That the KPU decision is already final and binding.” Megawati has until 4 p.m. (0900 GMT) to contest the result of the Sept. 20 ballot. Party officials said yesterday she would probably refrain from doing so after saying this week it was time to move on.

“We have recommended ... not to go to the Constitutional Court and this goes along with an opinion of (Megawati) who said not to disrupt the election process,” Trimedya Panjaitan, a lawyer for Megawati’s campaign team, said after meeting her. He said Megawati’s camp might simply give the court and election commission a list of irregularities for the record, but make no request for legal action. Yudhoyono has held off declaring victory, waiting for any challenge to be dealt with, as financial markets and investors await details of his plans and cabinet choices following a long election season that began with a parliamentary poll in April. Speaking on El Shinta radio yesterday, Gayus Lumbuun, the head of Megawati’s legal team, said there had been vote fraud on a massive scale, affecting thousands of polling stations.

A tearful Megawati told Indonesians on Tuesday to accept the result of the vote, but she did not explicitly concede defeat. She has yet to congratulate Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono is due to be sworn in as president on Oct. 20.