Indonesia's Prabowo wins presidential election, confirms election commission

Indonesia’s election commission on Wednesday officially declared Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto as the winner of last month’s presidential election, securing the most votes. It is expected that Prabowo will succeed outgoing President Joko Widodo in October. He is expected to speak later on Wednesday.

According to the official tally of the election body, which confirmed unofficial results released by independent pollsters last month, Prabowo, a three-time presidential candidate, won the Feb 14 contest with 59 per cent of votes, a resounding win over rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, who respectively received about 25 per cent and 16 per cent.

Election Commission chief Hasyim Asy’ari unexpectedly suspended the live-streamed announcement just minutes after conveying the results, citing the need to “correct” a document, before resuming the meeting. Officials did not specify what the correction was.

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Former special forces commander Prabowo swept the election on promises of continuity of the platforms of two-term incumbent Widodo, riding on the president’s popularity and using social media like TikTok to tap the support of Indonesia’s huge young voter base.

The road to Prabowo’s victory was marred by controversies and concerns about patronage politics over his alliance with the president, known as Jokowi, who was widely accused of abusing his position to favour his former rival, allegations his allies deny.

Jokowi’s 36-year-old son Gibran Rakabuming Raka was Prabowo’s running mate and is set to become vice president, owing to a last-minute change of eligibility rules, opens new tab by a court headed by the president’s brother-in-law.

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The election commission also announced that Indonesia’s biggest party PDI-P received the most votes in the legislative elections, which were held on the same day, followed by the Golkar Party and Prabowo’s Gerindra Party in third place.

With inputs from Reuters.