As of: February 14, 2024, 2:23 p.m
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Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto casts his ballot in Bojong Koneng.
© Vincent Thian/AP/dpa
In Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto won the presidential election by a landslide, according to quick counts.
The ex-general probably doesn't even have to go into a runoff election.
Jakarta - Former general Prabowo Subianto has won Indonesia's presidential election by a commanding margin, according to quick counts.
According to preliminary calculations, the 72-year-old incumbent defense minister received around 57 to 59 percent of the vote, as Indonesian media consistently reported.
His opponents - the former governor of Jakarta and ex-education minister Anies Baswedan (54) and the governor of the Central Java province Ganjar Pranowo (55) - were far behind with around 25 percent and 16 percent.
In the island kingdom, so-called “quick counts” are carried out after an election.
These rapid counts are based on random samples of ballots from polling stations across the country.
These numbers from the various opinion research institutes are not official - but the result is unlikely to change much.
Prabowo would therefore not have to go into a runoff election.
The electoral authority does not want to announce the official final result until the end of March.
Even beforehand, Prabowo was considered the clear favorite to succeed the popular President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi.
He has been head of state and government since 2014, but was not allowed to run again after two terms in office.
However, Prabowo nominated Jokowi's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice president.
Critics then accused the current president of wanting to build a political family dynasty.
In the huge country with its around 17,000 islands, around 205 million people were called to vote.
A third of them are younger than 30 years old.
dpa