Indonesia: Jokowi Wins Presidential Election

By Keisyah Aprilia

Incumbent Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo won last month’s presidential election with 55.5 percent of votes, the General Election Commission announced early Tuesday.

Jokowi’s rival, former general Prabowo Subianto, secured 44.5 percent of the votes, according to the commission’s final tally from the April 17 election.

“In the name of God, the result of the presidential election is official,” commission chairman Arief Budiman said after a plenary meeting to wrap up the official count.

Of 154.3 million valid votes, Jokowi won more than 85.6 million, while Prabowo garnered nearly 68.8 million, according to official results.

Arief said Jokowi and his running mate, conservative cleric Ma’ruf Amien, won in 21 provinces, including the provincial capital Jakarta, while Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno clinched 13 provinces, including the most populous, West Java.

Prabowo has said he will reject the official results, alleging widespread cheating in the election.

A member of his campaign team, Aziz Subekti, who was present at the final count’s announcement, called Prabowo’s rejection a form of “resistance against injustice, against fraud,” Detik.com news portal reported.

The electoral watchdog, the Election Supervisory Agency, on Monday rejected complaints by the Prabowo campaign alleging “massive and systematic fraud,” saying that not enough evidence was presented to back the allegations.

The official results had been scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

It was not clear if the announcement was moved forward because of a threat by Prabowo’s supporters to hold a rally in front of the commission’s building in central Jakarta on Wednesday.

The announcement came amid heightened tensions in the capital, after police said last week they had arrested 29 militant suspects who were allegedly plotting to bomb an expected protest against the election results on Wednesday.

Up to 32,000 security personnel were deployed in Jakarta to safeguard the announcement, police said.

National police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal said on Friday the suspects were caught in raids across Indonesia during the past month and were believed to be members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local militant network affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

“They were planning to carry out amalia, or a terrorist act, by attacking a crowd of people on May 22 using bombs,” Iqbal said.

The police spokesman said the suspects planned to use remote-controlled explosives to target the crowd.

On Thursday, Security Affairs Minister Wiranto urged the police, military and local governments to prevent Prabowo’s supporters from leaving for Jakarta to carry out their protest on May 22.

The United States, Australia and several other countries have issued travel advisories warning about a possible attack.