Prabowo Subianto, Indonesian Defence Minister, has a strong lead in the race for the presidency of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, preliminary results collated by government-approved pollsters showed Wednesday after polls closed.
With around 60 percent of sample votes tallied in so-called “quick counts” that have previously proven reliable, two independent pollsters showed Prabowo Subianto on more than 55 percent of the vote, which would be enough to avoid a second-round run-off. Officials results are expected next month.
Indonesians cast their ballots on Wednesday across the Southeast Asian archipelago in an election headlined by the race to succeed President Joko Widodo, whose influence could determine who takes the helm of the world’s third-largest democracy.
Nearly 259,000 candidates are contesting 20,600 posts in the world’s biggest single-day election.
But all eyes are on the presidency and the fate of the incumbent’s ambitions to boost the country’s status as an electric vehicle hub and extend a massive infrastructure push including a multi-billion dollar plan to move the capital city.
The race to replace Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, pits two former governors, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan, against controversial frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander feared in the 1990s as a top lieutenant of Indonesia’s late strongman ruler Suharto.
