Indonesians vote for a new president as Joko Widodo era comes to an end

More than 204 million people were registered to vote across the archipelago in one of the world’s biggest and most complex elections.

Counting is under way in Indonesia after millions of people turned out to choose a successor to Joko Widodo, the hugely popular president known as Jokowi, who is barred from running for a third term under the constitution

The frontrunner is Prabowo Subianto, the only general ever to be given a dishonourable discharge from the country’s armed forces.

Widodo’s archrival in the last two elections, 72-year-old Prabowo later became his defence minister and has sought to soften his strongman image throughout the two-month campaign.

He’s been helped by a cartoon portraying him as a “cuddly grandpa” and having Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, as his running mate after a controversial Constitutional Court ruling on age limits last year.

While the president has not formally endorsed the pair, his unofficial support has boosted their bid for office.

“Jokowi is the single most important person not running for office in this campaign,” Greg Fealy, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University and an expert in Indonesian politics, told Al Jazeera.

“Jokowi is extraordinarily popular, with a more than 80 percent approval rating, and Prabowo is the main beneficiary of that.”

The other candidates are academic turned education minister and Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the biggest party in parliament and Jokowi’s party in 2014 and 2019.

Heavy overnight rain caused flooding in some places and led to the temporary closure of some polling stations, but voting generally went smoothly.

After casting his ballot in Bogor in Western Java, Prabowo was in good spirits.

Source: Jordan 105fm News Bulletin

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