Indonesian Minister of Defense 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 next month, but early indications all point to the 72-year-old former general succeeding popular outgoing leader Joko Widodo.
With more than half the ballots counted, Prabowo had a commanding 57 percent of votes, more than double his nearest rival and enough for a first-round majority, the election commission’s Web site showed.
Photo: AP
Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan had 24.98 percent yesterday morning, and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo had 18.02 percent.
“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 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. However, both of his rivals said they would wait for the official result and had not conceded.
Prabowo needs more than 50 percent 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 defense 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.
Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte wrote on X late on Thursday that he had congratulated the president-in-waiting because of the “projected outcome.”
The US was more cautious, only congratulating the Indonesian people on the election’s “robust turnout” in a statement that did not mention Prabowo.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS