The front page of a local English newspaper shows Indonesia's Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto (L) and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Surakarta City mayor and Indonesian President Joko Widodo's son, at a book store on Thursday — AFP JAKARTA, Feb 15 (AFP): Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto on Thursday looked set to become the new president of the world's third-largest democracy, likely avoiding a runoff vote against election rivals who have yet to concede.
The ex-general declared victory Wednesday evening after preliminary counts from government-approved pollsters-previously shown to be reliable-indicated he would win high office with a majority in his third attempt.
The slower, official count by the archipelago's election commission also showed the 72-year-old on course for the presidency at 57 percent with 43.82 percent of votes counted, more than double his nearest rival.
"This victory should be a victory for all Indonesians," Prabowo told a rapturous crowd in the capital Jakarta on Wednesday evening.
President Joko Widodo told reporters Thursday he had met with Prabowo the previous evening to offer his "congratulations".
In reaction to Prabowo's victory, markets in Southeast Asia's biggest economy jumped by nearly two percent, energised by Prabowo's vows of continuity.
Prabowo lost the previous two presidential polls to popular outgoing leader Jokowi, as he is popularly known.
But he now appears on the cusp of succeeding his former rival, who observers say has unfairly backed his defence chief's campaign. Analysts have said a Prabowo win is almost assured.
"It's all over for Anies and Ganjar," said Adrian Vickers, a professor at the University of Sydney. Fellow candidate Anies Baswedan, who had been the favourite to battle Prabowo in the event of a runoff, said he would respect the result when it was finalised.
A spokesperson for Ganjar Pranowo, polling third, told reporters his team had discovered "structured, systematic and massive" electoral fraud, without providing evidence.
The country's election commission head Hasyim Asy'ari did not mention the claims at a press conference Thursday.
In legislative polls, Prabowo's Gerindra party was only projected to win 13 percent of parliamentary seats, meaning he would have to join forces with other parties to pass laws.
Much was made internationally about Prabowo's human rights record in the run-up to the vote.
NGOs and former bosses accuse Prabowo of ordering the abduction of democracy activists towards the end of the three-decade Suharto dictatorship in the late 1990s.
Some of those activists have never been found, and witnesses accuse his military unit of committing atrocities in East Timor.
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