Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo leads in early unofficial presidential vote count
Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto appears to have an early unofficial lead in the race to become the country’s next president.
Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former army general, appears to have an early unofficial lead in the race to become the country’s next president, “quick counts” show after voting in the world’s third-largest democracy closed on Wednesday.
Prabowo appears to have won a simple majority of ballots cast in Wednesday’s elections, with some early independent snap counts — sampling of actual vote counts at the various voting locations — putting his percentage of the popular vote at nearly 60%, substantially more than what pre-election opinion polls yielded.
Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan placed second in the presidential race — garnering just under a quarter of the votes so far, while the ex-governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo was third, according to the snap counts released by independent pollsters, including Indikator Politik, Litbang Kompas and Lembaga Survei Indonesia.
More than 200 million people were eligible to vote in only the sixth election in Indonesia since the country emerged from a military dictatorship under onetime President Suharto in the late 1990s. The outcome of these elections could go some way in affecting democratization in Indonesia, while determining whether Southeast Asia’s largest economy will attain developed status by 2045.
Official results are not due for at least a month. The winner will replace President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who is not standing for elections after having served the maximum of 10 years.
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