The world’s largest one-day election has begun in Indonesia, with more than 200 million people across the archipelago eligible to vote in the race to decide the successor to popular outgoing President Joko Widodo.
Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former special commander under Suharto’s dictatorship, has shaken off his fierce past image and secured the tacit support of the outgoing president, who has promised to continue his policies, with clear results in pre-election polls. maintains a strong lead. Prabowo’s running mate is Widodo’s eldest son.
However, it is unclear whether the controversial Prabowo will win the 50% or more votes needed to win in the first round of voting on Wednesday. Following him are former Jakarta governor and academic Anies Baswedan and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo.
Voters are not only choosing their future president and vice president, but also their executive and legislative representatives at every level of government across the country, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands spanning three time zones.
According to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the scale of the election is larger than any other one-day vote and poses major logistical challenges. Ballot boxes are being delivered to more than 820,000 polling stations across the country by boat, helicopter, bullock cart, and on foot.
This year’s election has been shaped by young voters, who make up more than 50% of the electorate and have been heavily targeted by candidates through social media campaigns, from Q&A sessions on TikTok livestreams to concert ticket giveaways. .
The Election Commission announced that voting may be delayed in Demak, Central Java province, and Paniai, Central Papua province, due to flooding. In Jakarta, a rainstorm early Wednesday also caused delays as observers and organizers struggled to reach polling stations in time.
At a voting center in Bogor’s Sasak Panjang village, just south of Jakarta, about 20 voters lined up under umbrellas as voting began at 7:45 a.m., slightly behind schedule due to bad weather. Ta. One voter, Hernando Hutapea, said many people would be forced to wait until later to vote because of the rain. “I came early because I wanted it to end quickly. I believe this process is important for the future of our country,” he said.
Indonesia, which escaped dictatorship just 26 years ago, typically sees high voter turnout on Election Day, a national holiday known domestically as Pesta Democracy, or Democratic Party.
This year’s elections were marked by concerns that the democratic process was being undermined. Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is reaching the end of his term after 10 years in power and has been accused of manipulating Prabowo’s campaign to boost his campaign as part of efforts to establish a dynasty and protect his legacy. It’s been criticized.
Jokowi has not explicitly endorsed any of the three candidates, but his son Gibran Rakabumin Raka is running as vice-president alongside the defense minister. The partnership was only possible after a court headed by Jokowi’s brother-in-law tweaked eligibility criteria for candidates, a development that outraged many. Mr Jokowi has appeared at Mr Prabowo’s campaign events and has been accused of using state resources to support Mr Prabowo. His office denied he was trying to interfere in the election.
Prabowo, Suharto’s former son-in-law, has been strongly opposed by human rights activists who point to allegations related to his military days. A longtime commander of the Kopassus special forces, he was dishonorably discharged in 1998 after Kopassus soldiers kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Suharto, then his father-in-law.
Of the 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 are still missing. Prabowo has always denied wrongdoing and has never been charged in connection with the allegations. Several of his men were tried and convicted.
Prabowo is also accused of involvement in rights violations in Papua and East Timor, including a 1983 massacre in the East Timorese village of Claras in which hundreds of people, mostly men, were killed. He denies the charges.
Mr. Prabowo lost elections to Mr. Jokowi in 2014 and 2019, but the president’s tacit support boosted his popularity, as did his efforts to project himself as a fun-loving grandpa who dances awkwardly at rallies. Such campaign activities have made him familiar with younger voters who do not have strong memories of the Suharto era.
Analysts say turnout, especially among young people, will be crucial to the election outcome and will be particularly important to Prabowo’s campaign.
Following him in the pre-election poll is Anies, a former Islamic university president who served as Jakarta governor until last year.
Anis opposes Jokowi’s signature plan to move Indonesia’s capital to Nusantara on the island of Borneo, about 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from Jakarta. The plan includes building government buildings and housing from scratch.
Ganjar is a ruling party candidate but does not have Jokowi’s support. He served as a member of parliament for Indonesia’s governing Democratic Party for 10 years before being elected to the first of two terms as governor of Central Java province in 2013.
During his tenure as governor, he rejected Israel’s participation in the U-20 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in the state. FIFA subsequently removed Indonesia from hosting the matches, sparking a backlash against Pranowo from soccer fans.
Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
