The General Elections Commission (KPU) on Wednesday named Prabowo Subianto the next president of the world's third-largest democracy after the Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to his first-round majority victory. officially declared as.
Defense Minister Prabowo, 72, is scheduled to take over from outgoing leader Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in October, following a transition period as he assumes the top job for the third time.
This comes as election rivals Anies Baswedan and Gunjal Pranowo have called for a repeat of the February 14 vote, in which Prabowo won nearly 60% of the votes, and are calling for state intervention to confirm his victory. He claimed that there had been a change in the rules.
KPU Chairman Hashim Asiari said that the election commission has decided to “determine Prabowo Subianto, the number two presidential and vice presidential candidate, and Gibran Rakabumin Raka as the presidential and vice presidential candidates.''
Prabowo has been controversial for past human rights abuses, accused by human rights groups of being involved in the disappearance of democracy activists at the end of dictator Suharto's regime in the late 1990s.
But the fervent populist secured an easy victory in the election on the back of a pledge to continue Jokowi's popular policies of strong economic development and the selection of the president's eldest son, Gibran, as his vice president.
“I want to say the game is over. It's a very important game, a very important contest. This is what the people wanted,” Prabowo said at a ceremony in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“I…certify that I will fight for all Indonesians, even those who did not vote for me.”
Jokowi was accused of orchestrating a rule change to allow Gibran to run as Prabowo's vice president.
Jokowi's brother-in-law, then-Chief Justice Anwar Usman, lowered the requirements in October to allow candidates under 40 to run if elected to political office. Mr. Gibran, 36, is the mayor of Surakarta, Central Java province.
Mr. Gibran's addition to Mr. Prabowo's team gave the campaign a strong boost, and the defense minister's poll numbers soared in the months that followed.
But the Constitutional Court on Monday rejected the claims of two of Prabowo's rivals in their entirety, saying nepotism and state interference had not been proven.
