Indonesian President Joko Widodo was on track to be re-elected leader of the world’s third-biggest democracy as unofficial results put him in a comfortable lead over firebrand former general Prabowo Subianto after voting closed yesterday across the 17,000-island archipelago.
While official results are not due until next month, a series of so-called “quick counts” by pollsters showed Widodo, 57, as much as 11 percentage points ahead.
The vote ended at 1pm in Sumatra, although some of the 800,000 polling stations across the nation remained open late due to delays and long lines.
Photo: Reuters
The quick counts have proven reliable indicators in past elections, but Widodo held off declaring victory.
“We’ve all seen exit poll and quick-count numbers, but we still need to wait for the official results,” he told supporters in Jakarta.
His 67-year-old rival — who lost to Widodo in their 2014 presidential contest and said he would challenge this year’s results if he lost — insisted that exit polls suggested he was in the lead. He did not cite specific evidence.
“I’m calling on my supporters to keep calm and don’t get provoked,” he said.
The campaign was punctuated by mudslinging and a slew of fabricated online news stories.
“I hope after this that there will be a call for reconciliation, because ... we’ve been living in a very polarized atmosphere,” political analyst Gun Gun Heryanto told Kompas TV.
Yesterday saw millions of Indonesians cast their ballots in one of the world’s biggest exercises in democracy.
More than 190 million voters were asked to choose between Widodo and his fiery nationalist rival, who has strong ties to the nation’s three-decade dictatorship of former Indonesian president Suharto.
Widodo in his campaign pointed to his ambitious drive to build much-needed infrastructure, but he has seen his rights record criticized owing to an uptick in discriminatory attacks on religious and other minorities.
His choice of conservative cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate also raised fears about the future of Indonesia’s reputation for moderate Islam.
The soft-spoken Widodo stands in stark contrast to Subianto, a strongman who courted Muslim hardliners and promised a boost to military and defense spending.
Echoing US President Donald Trump, Subianto vowed to put “Indonesia first” by reviewing billions of US dollars in Chinese investment.
Subianto — who moved to soften his strongman image with an Instagram account featuring his cat, Bobby — ordered the abduction of democracy activists as the authoritarian regime collapsed in 1998 and was accused of committing atrocities in East Timor.
A record 245,000 candidates ran for public office, from the presidency and parliamentary seats to local positions — the first time all were held on the same day.
About 2 million military and civil protection force members were deployed to ensure the vote went smoothly, including in mountainous Papua, where rebels have been fighting for decades to split from Indonesia.
Papua election officials dressed in traditional headgear and grass skirts, as others strapped on superhero costumes to entertain voters in other parts of the nation.
“This only happens once in five years, so we have to exercise our [voting] rights,” I Gusti Ketut Sudarsa, 65, said from Bali. “This will determine the path of our nation.”
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