Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto wins presidency
Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto has been elected as president of the world's third-biggest democracy, the elections commission said on Wednesday, beating two rivals who have vowed to file a legal complaint about the vote. The defence minister and his vice-presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka – the eldest son of outgoing leader Joko Widodo – already declared victory last month after unofficial counts showed them winning a majority. They were officially confirmed as the winners on Wednesday after receiving more than 96 million votes, commission chairman Hasyim Asy'ari said, roughly 58.6 percent of the total count and enough to secure a first-round majority. Anies Baswedan secured nearly 41 million votes, or 24.9 percent of the total count, while Ganjar Pranowo received 27 million votes, more than 16 percent. More than 164 million Indonesians voted, the commission said, representing around an 80 percent turnout of over 204 million eligible voters. Prabowo, 72, was widely predicted to win the presidency on his third attempt. He will take over the presidency in October after a transition period. His popularity soared because of what experts said was his nationalist verve in populist speeches, strongman credentials as defence minister and backing from Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quick to congratulate Prabowo, saying Washington looked "forward to partnering closely" with the ex-general, who was once placed on a US visa blacklist. "We extend our sincere congratulations to Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto on his victory," he said in a statement. Prabowo's rivals former Jakarta governor Anies and former Central Java governor Ganjar have vowed to submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court about allegations of irregularities and fraud during the election. They have three days to submit complaints from Wednesday. But Prabowo's legal team is confident the result will not be successfully challenged because of his majority and wide margin of victory, local media reported on Tuesday. (AFP)