Thu 21 March 2024:
Presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka won Indonesia’s 2024 presidential election, the country’s General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday.
According to the official counts released by KPU, Prabowo-Gibran received 96,214,691 votes, beating the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair who got 40,971,906 votes, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD who obtained 27,040,878 votes.
Prabowo, a former special forces commander, is expected to take over from outgoing President Joko Widodo, Gibran’s father, in October after a transition period.
Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Jakarta, described the win as “a resounding victory”.
It is a “remarkable victory for a man who has contested the presidency twice before and failed,” Washington said.
“He has promised a smooth transition to power and has promised that he will be the continuity candidate and continue the work of the very popular president.”
The 72-year-old swept the election on promises of continuing Widodo’s policies, riding on the president’s popularity and using social media platforms like TikTok to tap the support of Indonesia’s huge young voter base.
Prabowo had already claimed victory in the election after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead over his rivals.
“We should not be arrogant. We should not be proud. We should not be euphoric. We still have to be humble. This victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” he said at the time in a speech broadcast on national television.
The road to Prabowo’s win was marred by controversies and concerns about patronage politics over his alliance with the president, popularly known as Jokowi, who was widely accused of abusing his position to favour his former rival, allegations his allies denied.
Prabowo has been accused of human rights abuses in East Timor, which won independence from Indonesia in 2002 after the collapse of the Soeharto government, and in Indonesia’s troubled eastern region of Papua.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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