Congratulations pour in as Indonesia's Prabowo looking at presidential victory

By Anadolu staff

Congratulations were pouring in Thursday for Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto who is leading in the presidential election, according to media reports.

President Joko Widodo extended greetings to Prabowo after quick count results showed him leading with more than 56% of the vote, Jakarta Globe reported.

Joko's son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is Prabowo's running mate.

"Yes, I've congratulated (Prabowo) and I've met (with Gibran) directly. Last night," said Jokowi.

Indonesia held the world's largest single-day vote to elect nearly 20,000 candidates to administrative positions including parliament and provincial assemblies across 38 provinces.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with Prabowo on the telephone and offered congratulations for his lead in the election.

"I was honoured to be the first foreign leader to speak today with @prabowo, who has a clear lead in official and unofficial counts, about my ambition for the future of Australia – Indonesia relations," Albanese wrote on X.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also congratulated Prabowo for his "strong performance" in the elections.

Interim results by the election commission showed Prabowo and Gibran leading against their two rivals.

Prabowo received 14.81 million votes, or around 56.39%, according to the General Election Commission.

While Anies Baswedan and his deputy, Muhaimin Iskandar, received 24.59%. Ganjar Pranowo and his running mate Mohammad Mahfud MD secured 19.03%.

Official results will be announced by March 20.

A six-hour-long voting process concluded Wednesday in Indonesia, where millions of voters cast ballots in the presidential, national and provincial elections.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid