JAKARTA: Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto was on course to win the presidential election by a wide margin, election commission results showed Friday, with 50 percent of votes counted.

The official result is not expected until late March but early indications all point to the 72-year-old ex-general being anointed successor to popular outgoing leader Joko Widodo.

But both of his rivals said they would wait for the official result and have not conceded.

With half the ballots now counted, Prabowo holds a commanding 56.89 percent of votes, more than double his nearest rival and enough for a first-round majority, the election commission’s website showed.

Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan stood at 25.27 percent on Friday morning and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo had 17.84 percent of the vote.

Prabowo needs more than 50 per cent of the overall vote and at least a fifth of ballots cast in over half the country’s 38 provinces to officially secure the presidency. Analysts say his win is almost assured.

The former general said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had called to congratulate him, as well as the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in his Instagram post, which showed him with a phone held to his ear.

But the United States has been more cautious, only congratulating the Indonesian people on the election’s “robust turnout” in a statement that did not mention Prabowo’s name.

Jokowi, as the incumbent leader is popularly known, told reporters Thursday he had met with Prabowo the previous evening to offer his “congratulations”.

Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka is Prabowo’s running mate.

However, Prabowo’s election rivals have said they would investigate if there was any fraud in the vote.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2024