Indonesian president projected to win re-election

Indonesian President Joko Widodo votes
(Image credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Indonesia held logistically challenging national elections on Wednesday, and unofficial preliminary results show President Joko Widodo on track for a second five-year term. The election was a rematch of the 2014 race, and Widodo, 57, is projected to beat 67-year-old Prabowo Subianto, a former general, by about 10 percentage points, according to "quick count" sampling from five independent polling groups. The "quick counts" have proved accurate in previous elections.

Widodo's projected victory is seen as a win for his relative moderation over Subianto's strident nationalism and fear-based rhetoric about Indonesia being weak and easy prey for China and other foreign powers. Both candidates had courted Indonesia's growing faction of religiously conservative Muslims; Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, but freedom of religious worship is enshrined in its constitution.

By any measure, the election was massive, the first time Indonesia has voted for president, parliament, and regional governments on the same day. The government set up 800,000 polling stations around the countries 17,000 islands so the 193 million eligible voters could cast their ballots for the 245,000 candidates running in various races.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
See more

The final results will be released in May.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.