Indonesian Defence Minister with ties to Suharto claims election win
Former general Prabowo leads main rivals in polls as he contests third straight presidential vote
Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto claimed victory yesterday in the first round of the country’s presidential election.
The front-runner in pre-election polls, Mr Prabowo won about 58 per cent of votes, four polling agencies reported, based on ballots counted in a sample of voting stations nationwide. His two main rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, trailed with about 25 per cent and 17 per cent of the vote, respectively.
Mr Prabowo is the only candidate with ties to the Suharto regime, under which he served as a special forces commander. He also has close links to the incumbent President Joko Widodo.
To avoid a run-off in June, Mr Prabowo will need more than 50 per cent of the total votes cast and at least 20 per cent in each of the country’s 38 provinces.
Voting ended yesterday with no major problems reported.
“We hope the election can go in one round,” said Nusron Wahid, secretary of Mr Prabowo’s campaign team.
Mr Prabowo has undergone an image rebrand, and is contesting his third successive election after twice losing out to Mr Joko, popularly known as Jokowi, who cannot run for a third consecutive term as the leader of the world’s third largest democracy.
Deadly riots broke out after the 2019 election, when Mr Prabowo initially contested Mr Joko’s win.
About 259,000 candidates are vying for 20,600 posts in the world’s biggest one-day election, Reuters reported.
Polls opened at 7am local time in each of the three time zones across the nation’s 17,000 islands, which are home to 270 million people.
The logistics of the vote were daunting: ballot boxes were taken for counting by boat, motorcycle, horse and on foot in some of the country’s more remote locations, AP reported.
A thunderstorm flooded several streets in Jakarta as the polls opened yesterday.
Last week, damage from heavy rain in Central Java’s Demak province prompted the election to be postponed in 10 villages.
Mr Prabowo’s opponents, Mr Ganjar and Mr Anies, are both former regional governors. Mr Anies, who was previously governor of Jakarta, campaigned on promises of change and vowed to prevent backsliding in the democratic reforms achieved in the 25 years since the end of Suharto’s authoritarian, kleptocratic rule.
Former Central Java governor Mr Ganjar is from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle, to which Mr Joko also belongs, and has campaigned largely on continuing his policies. However, the President did not endorse him.
Novan Maradona, 42, an entrepreneur, said after voting in central Jakarta that he wanted a candidate who would continue the policies of Mr Joko.
“If we start over from zero, it will take time,” he said.
To avoid a run-off in June, Prabowo needs more than 50 per cent of the total votes cast and 20 per cent in each province