JakartaPost-Feb 15, 2024
Prabowo Subianto cemented an apparently unassailable lead on Wednesday in his bid to become the eighth president of Indonesia, after quick count results gave the defense minister a single-round win in a three-horse race that had been tainted by allegations of state interference. Voters in the world’s third-largest democracy favored continuity over change, after a decade of fast-paced development marshaled by outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. A former Army general, often implicated in human rights abuses, Prabowo was largely favored to win ahead of the vote, with surveys placing him as a front-runner with the backing of a big-tent electoral alliance. Prabowo, who has sought the presidency multiple times but never won, declared his victory on Wednesday evening after he spent about 10 minutes thanking each of his key supporters in his grand alliance, dubbed the “Indonesian Onward Coalition”. “This victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” Prabowo said in his victory speech at a rally of supporters and campaign workers at Istora Senayan, Jakarta. He quickly added that his political alliance would welcome other parties into the camp in the next government. The 72-year-old Gerindra Party chairman called on his supporters to wait for the official results to come out, amid an outburst of celebratory chants that filled the arena. Tens of millions of Indonesians cast their ballots in the Valentine’s Day vote to elect not only a president and vice president, but also legislators at the national and regional levels, making it one of the world’s biggest and most complex single-day elections. Read more at:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2024/02/15/prabowo-wins.html.
