Indonesian voters began casting their ballots today, Wednesday, in presidential, legislative, and local elections centered on the race to succeed President Joko Widodo, whose influence may help determine who will lead the world's third-largest democracy. Approximately 259,000 candidates are competing for 20,600 positions in the largest single-day elections in the world. However, the focus is on the presidential race and the future of Widodo's ambitions to fortify the country’s status as a center for electric vehicle production and expand a massive infrastructure development plan, including a multi-billion-dollar project to relocate the capital.
Competing to succeed Widodo, known as Jokowi, are former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo against the frontrunner and controversial figure Prabowo Subianto, who is the defense minister and a former special forces commander. Two polls conducted last week predicted that Prabowo would win a majority of votes and avoid a runoff. To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the total votes and at least 20 percent in half of the country's regions.
Indonesia has three time zones, and polling stations across the country are now open. Voting in western regions is scheduled to close by 06:00 GMT. The voting process was slow in Jakarta due to thunderstorms causing flooding in parts of the capital. At least 34 polling stations were affected, but it is unclear how much delay this will cause and whether it will impact turnout, which was around 75 percent in the last elections.
Prabowo (72 years old) is running for the third time after losing twice to Jokowi, who is now implicitly supporting him. Prabowo is running alongside the president's son as his vice-presidential candidate. Jokowi's apparent support for Prabowo, along with allegations against him for intervening in a judicial ruling to allow his son to run for vice president, has drawn criticism regarding his neutrality in choosing his successor.
