Indonesian presidential election: Prabowo Subianto claims ‘victory in the first round’

Indonesian citizens have elected 580 parliamentarians and 20,000 regional and local representatives on February 14. But it is above all the presidential election that has attracted attention in this country, which is considered the third most stable democracy in the world in terms of population. The official results will not be announced until March 2024, but the first estimates have already started to be released. Even if he has claimed victory to succeed Joko Widodo in October this year in the leadership of this third country with a stable democracy in the world, the former general has made it clear that he will wait for the ‘official results’ of the election commission. “We believe that Indonesia’s democracy is working well. The people have decided, the people have decided,” he told reporters, before calling for unity.

Patience

Caution, and above all patience, are also the speeches of the other two candidates. Ganjar Pranowo, the former governor of Central Java, who was last in the estimation based on the sample, has called to wait for the official results from the KPU. KPU [Central Electoral Commission] is the commission responsible for the general election. What should be understood is that if the first estimate of this election is submitted, the official results will be announced later, within 35 days. They are expected in the middle of March. At the same time, we must be calm and patient because everything is still going on, declared some supporters of the candidate Ganjar.

Another speech this evening, of the camp of Anies Baswedan, the former governor of Jakarta, the candidate who, according to initially, hovers around 25%. Anies Baswedan’s camp has also said it is waiting for the official results. It has also mentioned that there are ‘many reports that suggest fraud,’ but without giving more details. the son of the current president Joko Widodo.

Candidate for the third time, Mr. Prabowo has continued the nationalist rhetoric with many people and promised to continue the policies of the outgoing president. Other candidates and the student movement accused the outgoing president, Joko Widodo, of using government resources to try to influence the election for his minister. As head of a special force, Mr. Prabowo was accused by NGOs of ordering the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in the 1990s, towards the end of the Suharto regime. He denied these charges and was never prosecuted.