Widodo seals 2nd term as Indonesia leader

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesia’s top court late Thursday rejected a losing presidential candidate’s allegations of massive and systematic election fraud, sealing a second term for Joko Widodo, who in fending off the rising power of Islamists has drifted toward authoritarian tactics.

The Constitutional Court, which took a marathon nine hours to publicly read its reasoning on the case, said the legal team of the losing candidate, former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, had failed to prove allegations that included millions of fake voters and biased state institutions. The court’s ruling is final.