Indonesia election: Defence minister Prabowo Subianto claims victory in first round

Indonesian defence minister Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in the first round of Indonesia’s presidential election on Wednesday (Feb 14) after preliminary results indicated he was leading the polls.

Prabowo calls for calm

Prabowo claimed victory during a speech at Istora Senayan sporting arena in the capital Jakarta, based on the unofficial tallies while also asking people to stay calm and wait for the official results from the election commission.

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The incumbent defence minister during his speech also said that he is “grateful” that the election was done peacefully and for the quick count results. Prabowo promised to create a government consisting of “the best Indonesians” and said it was a victory for all of the people.

“All counts, all pollsters...showed figures that Prabowo-Gibran won in one round. This victory should be a victory for all Indonesians,” said the incumbent defence minister during his speech referring to his running mate.

‘Quick counts’

The official results will not be announced until next month, but government-approved pollsters who collected a sample of votes at polling stations to conduct “quick counts” show that with most votes counted Prabowo is in the lead.

As of 1233 GMT, with 78 per cent to 93 per cent of ballots tallied, Prabowo had around 58 per cent of the votes, reported Reuters citing four pollsters – Indikator Politik, Kompas, CSIS and LSI.

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The unofficial tallies also indicate that Prabowo is on track to win the presidency in one round. The incumbent defence minister needs to secure more than 50 per cent of the overall vote and at least a 5th of ballots cast in more than half of the country’s 38 provinces to secure the presidency.

Meanwhile, his rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo trailed with about 25 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, according to independent pollsters, who in previous elections have proven to be accurate.

About the elections

Nearly 205 million eligible voters in the world’s third-largest democracy, on Wednesday, headed to polls to choose their new president and candidates for some 20,000 national, provincial and district parliamentary posts.

The polls for Indonesia’s 5th presidential and legislative elections since the end of its dictatorship in 1998, closed earlier today, after marking the world’s biggest one-day election.

In addition to the presidency, there were also some 10,000 aspirants from 18 political parties in Indonesia who contested 580 national parliament seats, on Wednesday.

Prabowo, 72, may take over – if the unofficial tallies are anything to go by – after incumbent President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who is serving his second and final term.

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Prabowo the once-feared top lieutenant of Indonesia’s late strongman ruler Suharto, is backed by his once rival and wildly popular incumbent who plans to continue his legacy, with his eldest son Gibran as the defence minister’s running mate.

‘Massive fraud’

The campaign teams of Ganjar and Anies, as per Reuters, said they were investigating reports of electoral violations and called it “structural, systematic and massive fraud”. However, they have yet to provide evidence for this claim.

(With inputs from agencies)