Mr. Widodo declared re-election as President of Indonesia
Quick vote counts showed Widodo won 54.5% of the vote, but his opponents claimed there was evidence of "fraud".
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (left) and vice presidential candidate Maruf Amin at a press conference after the election in the capital Jakarta on April 17. Photo:AFP. |
Indonesian President Joko Widodo told a news conference on April 18 that he had won 54.5% of the vote, based on results from 12 exit polling centers. Leaders from more than 20 countries around the world called to congratulate him.
Official results will be announced next month, but "quick counts" conducted by polling stations outside polling stations showed Widodo leading by at least 10%. The Indonesian president also said the quick count was highly accurate and the country needed to "patiently wait" for official results.
The Indonesian election took place on April 17 with more than 192 million people eligible to vote to choose 20,000 local and national lawmakers, including the president. As of the afternoon of April 18, the results of a quick count of 90% of the votes conducted by the ISIS Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Cyrus Network showed that Widodo was re-elected with 55.8% of the votes for the Jokowi-Maruf Amin (vice presidential candidate) ticket. Meanwhile, the Prabowo Subinato-Sandiaga Uno ticket won 44.2% of the votes.
"Today, we can conclude that Mr. Widodo and Mr. Maruf Amin are ahead of Mr. Prabowo Subianto and Mr. Sandiaga Uno based on the quick count results. These positions will not change," said CSIS Executive Director Philips Vermonte. The quick count was conducted by accredited polling centers in 2,002 polling stations in 34 provinces across Indonesia.
However, Widodo's opponent, former general Subinato, also claimed his ticket won because his campaign had "evidence of widespread fraud at the village and district levels across Indonesia." Subinato said he won 62% of the total vote.
Officials urged calm as they await official results and vowed to deal with any unrest. "If any illegal or unconstitutional actions take place that threaten stability and security, we will take firm action," said National Police Chief Tito Karnavian.
This vote marks the first time that presidential, parliamentary and local elections in Indonesia are held on the same day. Voters have just 6 days to cast their ballots at one of 810,000 polling stations nationwide.
