Indonesia’s defence secretary Prabowo Subianto has been declared the winner of next week’s presidential vote in the world’s fourth largest politics.
Mr Prabowo appealed for unification as his two adversaries, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, vowed to challenge the outcome.
The former general, who had been dogged by allegations of animal rights abuse for years, won 58.59 % of the vote.
” For those who did n’t voting for us, offer us a opportunity”, the 72- year- ancient said after the elections commission announced the official count on Wednesday nights.
He declared,” We will demonstrate that we are a president and vice president who will work as hard as possible for all Indonesians.”
He will assume office in October, taking over from President Joko Widodo, who is more popularly known as Jokowi.
Eighty percent of 205 million registered voters across 17, 000 islands and three time zones trooped to polling centres last 14 February, making it the world’s largest single- day election.
Mr Prabowo’s votes exceeded the majority required to avoid a runoff. Mr Anies and Mr Ganjar got 25 % and 16 %, respectively.
Mr. Prabowo thanked the well-known Jokowi, whose tacit support is widely believed to have contributed to his victory. In 2014 and 2019, the former general lost to Mr. Jokowi in both presidential elections.
His running mate- now the vice president- elect- is Mr Jokowi’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was only able to run only after a last- minute lowering of a minimum age requirement.
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Unofficial tally results showed that Mr. Prabowo had a strong lead over his rivals, so he won the election on February 14. Over the past few weeks, world leaders have also congratulated him.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Indonesians for” their robust turnout and commitment to democracy and the rule of law” on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated in a statement that the French foreign ministry shared his desire to “deepen our strategic partnership even further.”
Before official results were released, police deployed more than 3, 000 officers to stand guard across the capital city of Jakarta in anticipation of protests from Mr. Anies and Mr. Ganjar’s supporters.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent weeks to file charges of widespread election fraud.
Mr. Anies and Mr. Ganjar had previously made allegations that Mr. Gibran’s candidacy was a result of a covert campaign that exposed Mr. Jokowi’s partiality for the Prabowo-Gibran camp, among others.
Mr. Anies claimed on Wednesday that there had been election-related irregularities and that his legal team would investigate.
” A leadership born out of a sullied process, with deviations, fraud, will produce a regime with unjust policies”, Reuters news agency cited him as saying.
The legal team leader for Mr. Ganjar had also indicated to the BBC Indonesia that they would file a legal challenge to the outcome. They have to do so within the next three days, according to the country’s laws.
Additional reporting by BBC Indonesia
