Polls close in Indonesia, Defence Minister Prabowo leads in early unofficial vote count

According to unofficial results from a sample of voting places around the country, Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto had a commanding early lead in Wednesday’s presidential election with 59.8% of the vote.

Independent pollster Indikator Politik, one of many private outlets doing “quick counts” after the votes closed, said that rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo had 23.5% and 16.7% of the vote, respectively.

Reputable pollsters’ counts have shown to be accurate in past elections. It will take several weeks following the election for an official result to be known.

Popular former governors Ganjar and Anies are running against Prabowo, the presumptive winner, who was formerly a key lieutenant of the late strongman dictator Suharto of Indonesia and a former special forces commander.

The world’s largest single-day election has included nearly 259,000 candidates vying for 20,600 positions across the archipelago of 17,000 islands, but the focus has been firmly on the race to replace President Joko Widodo, whose influence could determine who leads the world’s third-largest democracy.

The early lead will be a boost for Prabowo, who has rebranded his image and is running in his third election after losing twice to the extremely popular Widodo, who is unable to run again.

Jokowi, as the president is called, is implicitly supporting and counting on his former opponent as a continuity candidate to protect his legacy, which includes a position for his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as Prabowo’s running partner.

To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of votes cast and 20% of the ballot in half of the country’s provinces. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held in June.