Ex-general Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in Indonesia’s election

The Story of the First Two Years: Indonesia’s First President and Vice President Prabowo Subianto vs. Gibran Rakabuming

According to government statistics, there are more people eligible to vote in Indonesia’s election than any other country.

They may decide whether the world’s third-largest democracy maintains its trajectory of economic development and political reform, or slides backward toward the authoritarian politics of a generation ago.

The front runners are Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming, the son and nephew of President Joko Widodo. If no candidate gets an absolute majority, there will be a run-off vote in June.

Election officials have not yet formally declared Prabowo the winner. In his victory speech, Prabowo stated he would protect all citizens, no matter their religion, race or background.

Prabowo’s campaign team made him a dancing grandpa. At the rally, his pudgy, smiling avatar beams out from giant inflatable statues and baby blue T-shirts. The tactic appears to be effective, with one poll showing that 60% of Gen-Z voters and 42% of millennials back Prabowo.

“You need the tools, right? A former Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. says Prabowo’s campaign managers work with young voters because they can easily digest the candidates’ vision and mission.

Indonesia’s economy has grown by 5% a year for the past two years. Cash and food assistance to the poor were popular with the general public.

Indonesia is a world’s largest producer of nickel used in electric car batteries and has banned the export of the raw nickel in order to move up the value chain.

The human rights abuses committed during the 32 year dictatorship of former general Suharto have elicited regret from Jokowi and he has given aid to some of the victims.

“We trusted him, says political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar. “We in Indonesia have been lulled into a thought that we’re doing well in democracy,” she says.

The Constitutional Court of Indonesia loosened the requirement that candidates for president and vice president have at minimum 40 years of age, giving the chance for Jokowi’s son to run for vice president.

Critics pointed out that the court’s chief justice is Jokowi’s brother-in-law, and assailed the court’s decision as riddled with conflict of interest, nepotism and political dynasty-building.

There have also been reports of using poverty-alleviation funds to buy votes, the intimidation of critics of Jokowi and Prabowo and mobilization of civil servants, soldiers and police to vote for Prabowo.

“This election is an important moment in the pro-democracy and human rights movement in Indonesia, because his running means that he will be the next president of Indonesia,” says Usman Hamid, the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

The Indonesian Defense Minister and Former General Suharto Subianto: Why did the U.S. Block Prabowo Enter the Country?

Prabowo is Suharto’s son-in-law. He received military training in the 1980s. Fort Bragg, N.C. is now Ft. Liberty.

Indonesia’s military gave him a discharge in 1998 for his role in human rights abuses, including Indonesia’s U.S.-backed invasion of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

The US government blocked Prabowo from entering the country for 20 years after he became the defense minister.

The analyst says this was not a good way for the U.S. to communicate. “In the eyes of Indonesians, Prabowo’s sins are forgiven,” she says.

Activist Mugiyanto sipin was one of those who survived abduction, interrogation and torture at the hands of Indonesian soldiers.

“Fighting for me and for families of the victims” of the disappearance cases “is like a lifetime task,” Sipin says. “So we are prepared. We fight again. Hopefully to defeat him [Prabowo] again.”

Sipin notes that Jokowi’s administration has expressed regret (but not apologized) and given housing, education and medical benefits to a small portion of Suharto’s victims and their families, but that is one policy that he is not optimistic that Prabowo will continue.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian Defense Minister and former general Prabowo Subianto, who had been barred from entering the United States for two decades, has claimed victory in Wednesday’s presidential election.

The current exit poll showed the 72-year-old former special forces commander with an absolute majority of votes, above the threshold of 50% nationwide, and 20% in half of the country’s provinces, without which a runoff vote would be required.

The ballots were read aloud and counted by election workers at the polling stations. It is a lot of work in a country of more than 200 million eligible voters spread across 17,000 islands.

The deciding factor for Prabowo was President Widodo’s support of the People’s Social Welfare, Health, Education and Education

Prabowo also declared an end to “strong words and hostile approach.” He was referring to the two former governors who ran against him in the presidential race.

One of the striking features of this election is that most of the voters were either Generation Z ormillennials, who were born before 1980 and 1996, respectively.

But Kevin O’Rourke, principal at Reformasi Information Services, a consulting firm, says the deciding factor may have been the endorsement of President Widodo, whose infrastructure building, health, education and poverty welfare policies remain highly popular.

“The promise of Prabowo providing continuity for Widodoism — a promise made by Widodo himself implicitly, if not explicitly — was the deciding factor for Prabowo,” O’Rourke says.