Widodo reelected Indonesia president
Credit to Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS| Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2019 16:11:47 +0000
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesian President Joko Widodo has won a second five-year term, preliminary election results showed Wednesday, in a victory for moderation over the nationalistic rhetoric of his rival, Prabowo Subianto.
Vote counts from five independent survey groups showed Widodo with a clear lead over Subianto, a general during the era of the Suharto military dictatorship, who warned Indonesia would fall apart without his strongman leadership.
The so-called “quick counts” from reputable survey organizations that use a sample of polling stations have been reliable in past elections.
With an average of 80 percent of sample polling stations counted, the five survey organizations showed Widodo winning 54 percent to 56 percent of the vote, a modest improvement on his 2014 showing.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, is an outpost of democracy in a southeast Asian neighborhood of authoritarian governments and is forecast to be among the world’s biggest economies by 2030.
A second term for Widodo, the first Indonesian president from outside the Jakarta elite, could further cement the country’s two decades of democratization.
Addressing jubilant supporters a few hours after polls closed, Widodo said he was aware of his lead and called for the nation to reunite after the divisions of the campaign.
“From the indications of the exit poll and also the quick counts, we can see it all, but we must be patient to wait for the official counting from the Election Commission,” he said.
AP
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