‘Jokowi’ wins Indonesia elections

JAKARTA — Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, who won the hearts of Indonesians with his common man image, won Indonesia’s presidential election with 53 per cent of the vote, final results from the Election Commission showed today (July 22).

The numbers were released shortly after his opponent, former general Prabowo Subianto, declared he was withdrawing from the contest, saying there was massive fraud during the election and that it was unfair and undemocratic.

Mr Widodo, a former furniture maker known widely as “Jokowi,” had maintained a slim lead of about 4 percentage points in unofficial “quick counts” by polling agencies released after the July 9 election.

But Mr Subianto, who has declared assets of US$140 million (S$174 million) and was on his third bid for the presidency, repeatedly claimed that polling firms with links to his campaign showed he was ahead.

“We reject the 2014 presidential election which is unlawful and therefore we withdraw from the ongoing process,” he said.

There were no immediate reports of violence. About 100 Subianto supporters held a peaceful protest about 300 metres from the Election Commission building in downtown Jakarta, chanting “Prabowo is the real president” and holding banners saying that the commission should stop cheating.

The building was surrounded by thousands of policemen to maintain security after a particularly nasty presidential campaign. It was the first election that pitted two candidates directly against each other since the Muslim majority country of 240 million emerged from the long and brutal Suharto dictatorship 16 years ago.

Supporters of both men used social media for personal attacks, and Mr Subianto’s supporters led a smear campaign against Mr Widodo, spreading rumours he is not a Muslim.

The commission was to formally declare the winner later today.

Final results showed that Mr Widodo won 70,997,859 votes, or 53.15 per cent of the nearly 133 million valid ballots cast, while Mr Subianto won 62,576,444 votes, or 46.85 per cent.

Voter turnout was 70.7 per cent. AP