(May 21): Indonesian President Joko Widodo won last month’s bitterly contested election by a double-digit margin, official results showed Tuesday, putting the former furniture exporter in charge of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation for another five years.
Widodo, known as Jokowi, won 55.5% of the national vote, compared to his challenger Prabowo Subianto’s 44.5%, the General Elections Commission said in Jakarta early on Tuesday. Jokowi’s margin of victory at 11% was almost double the lead he secured in 2014 against the same opponent, commission’s data showed. The tally also confirmed unofficial quick count results from about a dozen independent pollsters.
Prabowo, as Subianto is commonly known, has alleged irregularities in the conduct of the election and vowed to reject the official results. The former general has repeatedly claimed victory, citing his own campaign team’s survey of votes, and his supporters have called for public rallies to protest the official results.
A candidate can challenge the result in the nation’s Constitutional Court within three days before the commission confirms the winner, Chairman Arief Budiman told reporters. Prabowo’s campaign team has yet to decide on a legal challenge, Andre Rosiade, a spokesman said, adding it will continue to report evidence of irregularities to the election watchdog.
Jokowi, 57, is expected to be sworn in for his second five-year tenure on Oct 20.
Focus on Economy
The result should allow Jokowi to focus on steps to shield Southeast Asia’s largest economy from an escalating US-China trade war that’s threatening to hurt growth and fuel a trade deficit. The nation’s stocks, bonds and the currency have all slumped in the past month as foreign investors have grown jittery over the outlook for economic growth.
The opposition has said it will protest the result, even after police appealed for people not to participate in rallies because militants linked to the Islamic State were plotting to use the gatherings to launch attacks.
Police arrested two dozen militants linked to Islamic State this month for plotting attacks on rallies during the announcement of the poll result. Most of the 29 suspects detained were former IS militants, who fought in Syria and are members of local terror group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, according to National Police spokesman Mohammad Iqbal. These groups consider democracy to be forbidden by Islam, police said.
Religious Divide
More than 45,000 armed police are guarding the main offices of the General Elections Commission and the Election Supervisory Board in central Jakarta and other government offices, according to police spokesman Argo Yuwono.
The election campaign exposed deep religious divides among conservatives and moderates in a country where Muslims make up almost 90% of the population. Many liberals backed Jokowi, who chose senior cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate to counter opposition attacks on his religiosity.
Jokowi has urged people to abide by the official results and not be swayed by claims of irregularities. He’s ordered infrastructure spending to be accelerated, especially on urban and digital projects, to boost economic growth. He’s also promised to reduce poverty, keep prices low and improve tax revenue. The government has drawn up a $412 billion spending plan to expand an ambitious infrastructure drive launched by Jokowi in his first term as it seeks to ease bottlenecks, particularly in transport and electricity.
The government is also expected to spend more on education and training in order to create 100 million jobs in the next five years to provide work for the growing number of millennials entering the labour market each year. Jokowi has also been surveying possible locations for a new national capital as Jakarta struggles to cope with endemic traffic congestion and migration.
Cabinet Revamp
For Jokowi, the immediate challenge will be to revamp his cabinet as three of his ministers have been linked to separate graft cases being probed by the Corruption Eradication Commission. He’s hinted at a reshuffle as early as next month, and has vowed to pursue tougher reforms as he doesn’t have to worry about contesting another election. Indonesia has a two term limit for presidents.
Speculation has swirled around the role of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in Jokowi’s second term. Since joining Jokowi cabinet in 2016, the former World Bank managing director has reined in the fiscal deficit and taken steps to boost the tax-to-gross domestic product ratio, helping secure an investment grade from all ratings companies.
Jokowi, whose re-election bid was backed by 10 political parties, may also induct Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono of the Democrat Party and Erick Thohir, who led Jokowi’s campaign team and nominees from the National Mandate Party, which supported Prabowo, the Jakarta Post reported this month.
Jokowi’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDIP, emerged as the largest party in the elections to the nation’s lower house of parliament, known as DPR, by securing 19.3% votes, commission data showed. It was followed by Prabowo’s Gerindra Party and Golkar with 12.6% and 12.35% respectively.
