Prabowo Subianto confirmed as President-Elect amid fraud allegations

• His rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, intend to contest the result.
• Prabowo appealed for unity, attracting social media-savvy voters with TikTok videos.
• He will assume office in October, succeeding President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia’s defense minister, Prabowo Subianto, emerged as the winner of last month’s presidential election in the world’s third-largest democracy. Mr. Prabowo appealed for unity while his two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, declared their intention to contest the result. The former general, who had faced allegations of human rights abuses for decades, secured 58.59% of the votes. He endeared himself to social media-savvy voters with TikTok videos portraying him as a cuddly grandpa.

“For those who didn’t vote for us, give us a chance,” the 72-year-old said after the elections commission announced the official count on Wednesday night.

“We will prove that we are a president and vice president who will work as hard as possible for all the Indonesian people,” he said.

He will assume office in October, taking over from President Joko Widodo, who is more popularly known as Jokowi. Eighty percent of 205 million registered voters across 17,000 islands and three time zones turned out at polling centers on February 14, making it the world’s largest single-day election. Mr. Prabowo’s votes surpassed the majority required to avoid a runoff. Mr. Anies and Mr. Ganjar received 25% and 16% of the votes, respectively.

Mr. Prabowo conveyed gratitude to the popular Jokowi, whose tacit support is widely believed to have contributed to his victory. The former general had previously lost two presidential elections to Mr. Jokowi in 2014 and 2019.

His running mate, now the vice president-elect, is Mr. Jokowi’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was able to run only after a last-minute lowering of the minimum age requirement.

Mr. Prabowo asserted victory after the election on 14 February when unofficial tallies indicated he held a substantial lead over his rivals. World leaders have also conveyed their congratulations to him over the past weeks.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his “sincere congratulations” and praised Indonesians for “their robust turnout and commitment to democracy and the rule of law”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated in a statement that he looked forward “to deepening our strategic partnership even further”, a sentiment echoed by the French foreign ministry.

In anticipation of protests from supporters of Mr. Anies and Mr. Ganjar, police deployed more than 3,000 officers to stand guard across the capital city Jakarta before they announced the official results.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets in the past weeks, alleging widespread election fraud.

Among other things, Mr. Anies and Mr. Ganjar earlier alleged that Mr. Gibran’s candidacy was part of behind-the-scenes maneuvering that demonstrated Mr. Jokowi’s partiality for the Prabowo-Gibran camp.

On Wednesday, Mr. Anies stated that there had been election irregularities and that his legal team would take the matter to court.

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