This February 14, Indonesians were to elect 580 deputies and 20,000 regional and local representatives. But it is above all the presidential election which has attracted attention in this democracy considered the third in the world in terms of the number of inhabitants. The official result will not be announced until March 2024, but we already have the first projections.
2 mins
We are moving towards a large lead for Prabowo Subianto, the Minister of Defense with a controversial past, writes our correspondent in Jakarta, Juliette Pietraszewski. Even if he claimed victory to succeed Joko Widodo next October at the head of the third democracy in the world, the former general indicated that he would wait for the “ official result » of the electoral commission. “ We believe that Indonesian democracy works well. The people have decided, the people have decided “, he told journalists, before calling for unity.
Patience
Caution, and above all patience, is also the speech of the two other candidates. Ganjar Pranowo, former governor of Central Java, who was last in the estimates based on sampling, notably called for waiting for official results from the KPU. The KPU [General Elections Commission], this is the commission responsible for the general election. What must be understood is that if the first estimates of this election have fallen, the official result will arrive much later, within a maximum period of 35 days. They are expected in mid-March. In the meantime, we must remain calm and patient because everything is still in progress, declared some supporters of candidate Ganjar.
Read alsoIndonesia: who will be the next president of the third largest democracy in the world?
Another speech this evening, that of the camp of Anies Baswedan, former governor of Jakarta, the candidate who, according to initial estimates, would be around 25%. Anies Baswedan’s camp also said it was waiting for the official results. He also mentioned having “numerous reports suggesting cheating”, but without providing further details.
Nationalist rhetoric
If current estimates are subsequently officially confirmed by the KPU, Prabowo Subianto would therefore become the next Indonesian president and his vice-president would be none other than Gibran, the son of current president Joko Widodo.
Candidate for the third time, Mr. Prabowo developed a nationalist and populist rhetoric and pledged to continue the policies of the outgoing president. Other candidates and student movements accused the latter of having used state resources to try to influence the election in favor of his minister. As head of special forces, Mr Prabowo was accused by NGOs of ordering the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in the 1990s, towards the end of Suharto’s regime. He denied these accusations and was never prosecuted.
(With AFP)
Today’s economyWhy Indonesia needs even stronger growth