Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces general with ties to Indonesia’s current president and past dictatorship, was confirmed the victor of last month’s presidential election over two former governors who have vowed to contest the result in court.
Subianto won 58.6 percent of the votes, while former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan received 24.9 percent and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo got 16.5 percent, the Indonesian General Election Commission said on Wednesday after the official counting was completed.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President William Lai (賴清德), yesterday congratulated the president-elect and vice president-elect, and commended the Indonesian people and government for completing a democratic and peaceful election.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taiwan and Indonesia share the values of freedom and democracy and jointly face challenges related to climate change, food security and supply chain resilience, the statement said.
Taiwan hopes to continue deepening cooperation with Indonesia in economy and trade, culture, medical and health, science and technology, education, agriculture and labor based on existing friendly ties to jointly safeguard the freedom, openness, peace and prosperity in the region, it added.
Meanwhile, the two other Indonesian presidential candidates have alleged fraud and irregularities in the election process, such as the vice presidential candidacy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s son.
The popular outgoing president is serving his second term and could not run again, but his son’s candidacy is seen as a sign of his tacit backing for Subianto.
Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is 37, but became Subianto’s running mate after the Constitutional Court made an exception to the minimum age requirement of 40 for candidates.
The Constitutional Court’s chief justice, who is Widodo’s brother-in-law, was then removed by an ethics panel for failing to recuse himself and for making last-minute changes to the election candidacy requirements.
Subianto, who is Widodo’s defense minister, had claimed victory on election day after unofficial tallies showed he was winning nearly 60 percent of the votes.
Voter turnout for the Feb. 14 election in the world’s third-largest democracy was about 80 percent, the commission said.
Subianto won in 36 of 38 provinces and received 96.2 million votes compared with 40.9 million for Anies Baswedan, the second-place finisher, who won in two provinces.
Pranowo, the candidate of the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, received 27 million votes and did not win any provinces.
Additional reporting by Liu Tzu-hsuan
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