Indonesians elected Prabowo Subianto as their president by a wide margin on Wednesday, according to projections by reliable exit polls, as the former army general rode on the coattails of the extraordinarily popular incumbent, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. The 72-year-old defense minister’s almost guaranteed victory comes at the end of a fractious voting season marred by accusations of dynasticism, eligibility, nepotism, and partisanship. His running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is the eldest son of Jokowi, the man who twice before had defeated Prabowo in his quest for the presidency of Southeast Asia’s largest nation. The Prabowo-Gibran ticket won by a big enough margin that the vote would not have to go to a runoff round in June, as had been anticipated as a possibility based on previous surveys in the final weeks before the vote. All the calculations, all the survey agencies, including the ones that are on the side of the other candidates, show that the Prabowo-Gibran pair won in one round,” Prabowo said in a victory speech in Jakarta on Wednesday night. Unofficial figures by late night Wednesday showed that the defense minister had won 58% of the votes of the nearly 95% counted by independent pollster Indikator Politik at sample polling stations across the country. His two rivals in the race to succeed Jokowi, former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, respectively, had captured 25% and 17% of ballots cast, so-called “quick counts” at exit polls showed. Indonesians chose Prabowo Subianto as president on Wednesday, according to reliable exit polls. The former army general’s victory is at the close of a disputed voting season featuring accusations of dynasticism, eligibility, nepotism, and partisanship. HIs running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is the eldest son of the popular Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who twice before defeated Prabowo in the election. The Prabowo-Gibran ticket won by a big enough margin that the vote would not have to go to a runoff round in June, as had been anticipated based on previous surveys. All the calculations, all the survey agencies show that the Prabowo-Gibran pair won in one round,” Prabowo said in a victory speech in Jakarta on Wednesday night, which lasted until morning. What many observers had predicted is now official. Unofficial figures by late Wednesday showed that the defense minister had won 58% of the votes of the nearly 95% counted by independent pollster Indikator Politik at sample polling stations across the country. His two rivals in the race to succeed Jokowi, former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, respectively, had captured 25% and 17% of ballots cast, so-called “quick counts” at exit polls showed.
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