The son of a poor wood seller is set to become president of the world’s third-largest democracy. Indonesia’s Election Commission on July 22 declared victory for Jokowi Widodo over rival Prabowo Subianto following a nationwide vote on July 9. “This victory is a victory for all the people of Indonesia,” the president-elect told his supporters gathered at a port outside Jakarta. Jokowi, as he is widely known, and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, won with 53 percent of the vote to Prabowo’s 46 percent. Even before the announcement, Prabowo had alleged widespread electoral fraud and vowed to contest the result. Prabowo has three days to take his challenge to the constitutional court, the only Indonesian body with the authority to order a recount and overturn the results. However, with the final tally revealing a gap of eight million votes between the two candidates a recount is highly unlikely.
