Prabowo Subianto claims victory in Indonesian presidential election | Elections News

Sample counts show defence minister winning about 58 percent of the vote in first round of presidential election.

Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has declared victory in the presidential election after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead ahead of his rivals.

The 72-year-old former special forces commander, who had run for president twice before, had about 58 percent of the votes, according to four pollsters, based on “quick count” ballots at samples of voting stations nationwide. The number of ballots tallied ranged from about 86 to 95 percent as of 14:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo trailed with about 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively, according to the independent pollsters conducting the counts, which have provided an accurate picture of the results of previous presidential elections held in the country since it began direct voting in 2004.

A preliminary count by the election commission was far slower and showed Prabowo securing 57.7 percent of votes, with about 6 percent of ballots recorded.

Prabowo addressed his supporters after announcing his success and said he was “grateful” for the quick results.

“We should not be arrogant, we should not be proud, we should not be euphoric, we still have to be humble, this victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” he said in a speech broadcast on national television.

Ganjar and Anies urged the public to await the official result, which is expected by March 20 at the latest. Their campaign teams said they were investigating reports of electoral violations, both calling it “structural, systematic and massive fraud” without providing evidence to back up their claim.

To win in a single round, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of votes cast and at least 20 percent of the ballot in half of the country’s provinces. If no candidate wins a majority, a run-off between the top two finishers will be held in June.

Prabowo was the front-runner going into the poll, thanks to the apparent support of Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi.

His 36-year-old son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was Prabowo’s running mate and the two had pledged to continue the policies of Jokowi, who retained an approval rating of about 80 percent but was barred under the constitution from running again.

They will inherit an economy that grew just over 5 percent last year, and a slate of ambitious infrastructure projects, including the transfer of the capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo.

While Widodo was the first Indonesian president to emerge from the political and military elite since the 1998 collapse of the hardline rule of Soeharto, he has been accused of trying to build a political dynasty.

Gibran’s candidacy, allowed by a controversial court ruling where Widodo’s brother-in-law was one of the judges, was mired in controversy, and there were protests condemning Jokowi’s alleged election interference in the run up to the poll.

Prabowo was a military commander in the Kopassus special forces during the rule of Soeharto, who was also once the general’s father-in-law. He was given a dishonourable discharge in 1998 after claims that the group kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Soeharto.  Of 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 remain missing, and while Prabowo never faced trial, several of his men were tried and convicted.

He has also been accused of human rights abuses in East Timor, which won independence from Indonesia amid the collapse of the Soeharto regime, and its troubled eastern region of Papua.

Ian Wilson, a senior political lecturer at Murdoch University’s Indo-Pacific Research Centre in Australia, told Al Jazeera that the former commander changed his approach during this election.

“He targeted a younger demographic by remaking his image through cartoon figures, as a cuddly uncle, casting a kind of a doubt over his human rights record, which for a younger generation is sort of an ancient history for the most part,” he said.