Prabowo Officially Elected President of Indonesia

On March 20, Indonesia's Election Commission announced the final counting results of the presidential election, in which the incumbent Defense Minister Prabowo and his running mate, the eldest son of the incumbent President Joko, and the mayor of Solo, Gibran, won with 58.58% of the vote, and were elected as the next president and vice president.

In the other two running combinations, Anis, former governor of Jakarta Capital Territory, and Muhaimin, general chairman of the National Awakening Party, received 24.94 percent of the vote, while Ganjar, former governor of Central Java, and Muhammad, Indonesia's former coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, received 16.46 percent of the vote.

Voting for Indonesia's 2024 general election, including the presidential election, was held on February 14th. Prabowo's presidential inauguration will be held on October 20 in Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara.

According to the Indonesian Election Commission, Prabowo's portfolio received 58.58 percent of the vote in the presidential election. According to the election rules, the candidate combination will be directly elected if it receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round of voting and wins more than 20 percent of the votes in more than half of Indonesia's provinces and districts.

Indonesia's polling agency Indonesia Survey Institute Executive Director Chayadi Hanan believes that the election is a vote on Joko and his political performance, the public's recognition of Joko's performance in power pulled up Prabowo's support rate, "Joko's effect" has become the most important factor in Prabowo's victory.

In addition, there were a total of 204 million registered voters in the election, of which more than half were under the age of 40. The support of young voters was another reason for Prabowo's victory. Inviting 36-year-old Gibran, who is inexperienced in politics, to be his deputy was a "risky move" for Prabowo, but it proved to be a move that did increase the favorability of Prabowo's team among young Indonesian voters.

On February 14, the night of the election voting day held in the rapid counting of votes to win the campaign, Prabowo emphasized that after the election, all the people united and, continued to move forward. Now more than a month after the election, Prabowo and his camp widely contact all walks of life, including campaign rival parties, intended to persuade them to join the ruling coalition, and jointly promote the development of the country.

Analysts point out that the results of the presidential election show that the people hope that the Joko government's policy can be continued, and do not want to see a change of government lead to political instability in the country. Prabowo in the election will position himself as "Joko's successor", and is expected to be inaugurated in line with public opinion, to fulfill the campaign promises and the continuation of Joko's policy line.

 Prabowo has set up a "transition house" to interface with some major construction projects of the Joko government. "I will be sworn in on October 20, the new government transition will be very smooth," Prabowo told investors at an investment forum recently.

Prabowo's team published an article prior to the election polls explaining the policy agenda they would adopt after being elected, summarizing it as eight "optimal quick-impact projects," including providing free medical checkups to speed up the resolution of the tuberculosis problem and the establishment of quality hospitals in the districts with good facilities; the establishment of granaries at the village, regional, and national levels to improve the productivity of agricultural land; building comprehensive schools in each district and repairing schools that need to be renovated and upgraded; and continuing to build infrastructure in rural areas and townships, among others.

Indonesian economist Raden Pardeid noted that the first round of voting in the election selected the results to bring more certainty to investors.