The former general Prabowo Subianto, accused of human rights abuses during his time as a soldier, is leading with 60% of the vote forecast in the presidential election in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy. This emerges from the forecasts based on partial counts by various polling institutes, including Litbang Kompas, which also attributes 21.51% of the vote to the party former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and 18.36% to former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, according to 31.20% of their sample.
With more than 50% of the vote, Prabowo would become President of Indonesia, the country with the most Muslims in the world and which is also one of the 20 largest economies (G20).. The counting of votes began after polling stations closed, following an election in which some 205 million Indonesians were called to choose the successor to outgoing President Joko Widodo. Forecasting, which extrapolates results from a sample of votes, is a system that has proven to be very efficient in elections in the past.
Official results may take up to 35 days to be released, the maximum duration permitted by the electoral law. Voting took place without major incident, although rains delayed it in some places, and polling stations were open between 07:00 and 13:00 in the three time zones Eastern (GMT+9), Central (GMT+8) and Western (GMT+). 7).
Widodo, who cannot run for re-election due to the legal two-term limit, has unofficially supported Prabowo, who is running in alliance with Gibran Rakabuming Raka, a vice-presidential candidate and son of the current president. This alliance has led to accusations against Widodo for allegedly trying to create a political dynasty, although he has criticized any hint of nepotism in the past. Prabowo was dismissed from the military amid speculation about human rights abuses and was once banned from the United States because of his alleged shady record.
Alya, a 23-year-old bank employee, told EFE that she voted for Widodo in the last elections, but in these elections she will avoid supporting Prabowo. “I’m very scared about these elections. I don’t want number 2 (Prabowo) to win. Someone like him doesn’t deserve to win. He has a dark past and has blatantly violated the constitution,” said the young woman. The young electorate is crucial in these elections, which elect not only the president and vice-president, but also the legislature and thousands of provincial and municipal offices.
With nearly 259,000 candidates for approximately 20,600 offices and 205 million voters, it is the largest single-day election in the world. There are more than 823,000 polling stations in this archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, the third largest democracy. Former general Prabowo, accused of human rights abuses during his military career between 1970 and 1998, was the favorite after restoring his image through a campaign in which he performed dances that went viral tick tock, in a nod to younger voters.