JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto was on course to win the archipelago’s presidential poll by a wide margin, official tallies showed yesterday with more than half of votes counted.
The final result is not expected until late March but early indications all point to the 72-year-old ex-general succeeding popular outgoing leader Joko Widodo.
With more than half the ballots counted, Prabowo had a commanding 57 per cent of votes, more than double his nearest rival and enough for a first-round majority, the election commission’s website showed.
Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan was on 24.98 per cent yesterday morning and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo had 18.02 per cent. “Thank God, we must be grateful and continue to monitor the KPU’s official results,” Prabowo wrote on Instagram late on Thursday, referring to the general election commission.
The fiery populist on Wednesday claimed a “victory for all Indonesians” alongside his running mate – the current president’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka – based on preliminary results by government-approved pollsters.
The early sample counts – previously shown to be reliable – showed they were set for a first-round majority. Gibran, 36, would become Indonesia’s youngest-ever vice president.
But both of his rivals said they would wait for the official result and had not conceded.
Prabowo needs more than 50 per cent of the overall vote and at least a fifth of ballots cast in more than half the country’s 38 provinces to officially secure the presidency.
Analysts said his win was almost assured.
Jokowi, as the incumbent leader is popularly known, told reporters on Thursday he had met with Prabowo the previous evening to offer his congratulations.
He has been accused of backing his former rival and defence chief’s campaign in a bid to install a political dynasty, via his son, before leaving office.
In his Instagram post, Prabowo said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had called to congratulate him, as well as the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Leader of Indonesia’s former colonial ruler the Netherlands Mark Rutte, tweeted late on Thursday he had congratulated the president-in-waiting because of the “projected outcome”.
The United States was more cautious, only congratulating the Indonesian people on the election’s “robust turnout” in a statement that did not mention Prabowo.
Meanwhile, Prabowo’s election rivals have said they would investigate if there was any fraud in the vote, with Ganjar’s team saying it had found “systematic” fraud, without providing evidence. Anies yesterday visited Al-Azhar Great Mosque in the capital Jakarta, telling reporters “the deficiencies are various” in the vote count, also without providing evidence.
Reports of irregularities “can be seen on social media”, he said, calling on people to report incidents to his legal team.
Holding one of the world’s biggest single-day elections takes its toll on poll workers who count votes by hand, sometimes through the night, and deaths from overwork-related conditions and accidents are common.
At least 14 poll workers died from Tuesday to Thursday, according to local media reports yesterday, citing local government, police and election officials.
