Despite no official declaration, Subianto holds a significant lead in preliminary tallies, positioning himself to lead the world’s third-largest democracy….reports Asian Lite News
Indonesia’s Defence Minister, Prabowo Subianto, claims victory in presidential election based on unofficial counts, sparking controversy. His opponents remain defiant, refusing to concede defeat.
Despite no official declaration, Subianto holds a significant lead in preliminary tallies, positioning himself to lead the world’s third-largest democracy.
However, his candidacy evokes memories of Indonesia’s authoritarian past, with allegations linking him to human rights abuses during his military tenure.
Despite controversies, Subianto aligns himself with the current popular President Joko Widodo, emphasizing continuity.
Criticisms persist regarding his military record, including accusations of kidnappings and human rights violations. Unofficial tallies suggest Subianto secured a substantial majority, raising concerns among his detractors.
Prabowo’s running mate, 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is also considered a “controversial” candidate, as per Al Jazeera.
Prabowo is the head of Gerindra, a nationalist, right-wing populist political party, and has the backing of a coalition of other parties including Golkar and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Although Prabowo and Gibran do not have Jokowi’s explicit endorsement, as the incumbent president is supposed to remain neutral, they are seen as the “continuity” candidates.
Prabowo has also said he plans to build three million new homes in rural, coastal and urban areas, and launch a free lunch programme for schoolchildren in a policy designed to combat stunting.
Meanwhile, Indonesians’ main concern continues to remain the cost of living and being able to provide for themselves and their families.
Economic growth slowed to 5.05 per cent in 2023 compared with 5.3 per cent the year before, mostly as a result of weak exports and lower commodity prices, Al Jazeera reported citing Statistics Indonesia.
With people under 40 making up about half the total number of registered voters, employment is a key concern.
According to Statistics Indonesia, the unemployment rate in August 2023 was 5.32 percent and the average monthly wage across Indonesia was 3.18 million rupiahs (USD 203).
As per Al Jazeera, other issues include human rights and democratic decline in Indonesia, with student protests flaring across university campuses in recent weeks as staff and students at some of Indonesia’s largest and most prominent universities including Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Universitas Indonesia have spoken out about the need for fair and transparent elections.
The process at the polling stations was overseen by about seven million election officials and independent workers.
In a stark fact, more than 890 election workers died following the exhaustive polls in 2019.
There are more than 8,20,000 polling stations across Indonesia, an archipelago made up of some 17,000 islands, and the count starts as soon as voting closes.
Many polling stations used a “quick count” – based on a sampling method – to give an early indication of where things are headed.
Any legal complaints by any of the candidates involved, including the three sets of presidential and vice presidential hopefuls, will need to be filed within 35 days of the election.
On his previous two outings, Prabowo challenged the result through Indonesia’s Constitutional Court.
Among the voters, about 52 per cent of registered voters are under the age of 40, and about a third of the total are under the age of 30, making the “youth vote” an important one.
This year, 49.91 per cent of registered voters are male and 50.09 per cent are female.
Members of the Indonesian police and the military were banned from voting.
Presidential candidates need 50 per cent of the overall vote and at least 20 per cent of votes in each province in order to claim victory. Political parties need four per cent of the vote in order to enter parliament.
If no single candidate passes the 50 per cent threshold, the top two candidate pairs will go into a second and final round on June 26. The new president will take oath in October.
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