BREAKING: Joko "Jokowi" Widodo wins Indonesia presidential election

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo has been declared the winner of Indonesia's hotly contested presidential election.

The election commission said Mr Widodo won 53.15% of the vote with his rival, former general Prabowo Subianto, on 46.85%.

Earlier, Mr Subianto alleged widespread electoral fraud and vowed to challenge the result.

Mr Widodo has promised a decisive break with Indonesia's authoritarian past and better social welfare for the poor.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28415536

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Millions of people here in Indonesia have been waiting for this result with baited breath for weeks. This is very significant news as this is the 1st time Indonesia has had a president from a non military and/or humble background. A lot of people, including myself, have been worried about violent reactions from the losing side, hopefully those worries will be unfounded.

However, his contender (an ex-military man who has been seen by many as a new ruthless dictator in waiting) has not taken this lightly and in an unprecedented move withdrew himself from the election just an hour before the official announcement was due to be made. More details here...

Prabowo withdraws from Indonesian election process
By Kathy Quiano, Madison Park and Casey Tolan, CNN
July 22, 2014 -- Updated 1155 GMT (1955 HKT)

Before official results from Indonesia's presidential race were to be announced, one of the candidates, Prabowo Subianto declared he was rejecting the election process and withdrawing.

In a speech aired live, Prabowo cited "massive, structural and systematic cheating during the 2014 election," and said, "We will exercise our constitutional right to reject the presidential election and declare it unconstitutional.

"We withdraw ourselves from the process."

=snip=

"This is the first time anyone has questioned the legitimacy of the democratic process itself,"he said. "Since 1999, no participant in the process has asserted that the process itself has been illegitimate.

"We're in uncharted territory here."

More: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/21/world/asia/indonesia-election-result/

[Chasstev365]

1. With a name like that

shouldn't he be the next head of the UN?

[not fooled]

2. Wow

This sounds like good news. Apparently Subianto hired American RW/Neocon campaign staff who then proceeded to attack Joko Widodo on a variety of distracting fronts including calling him a "secret Christian" and alleging voter fraud. Good to see that it didn't work. Apparently Indonesian voters are smarter or more engaged than those in the US.

But, frightening that the next generation of a brutal, repressive military dictatorship came so close and chilling that Subianto imported overtly American RW campaign tactics.

[Turborama]

3. Yes, a lot of people here were very worried that was what could happen

Did you hear about the Nazi themed music video?


This Indonesian Nazi Video Is One of the Worst Pieces of Political Campaigning Ever
http://time.com/2920281/indonesia-ahmad-dhani-prabowo-subianto-nazi-fascist/

[Turborama]

4. A Child of the Slum Rises as President of Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Joko Widodo, the governor of Jakarta whose common touch has made him a political phenomenon, was declared the winner of Indonesia’s presidential election on Tuesday, completing an improbable ascent from child of the slums to leader of the world’s fourth-most populous nation.

=snip=

The victory represents a striking rise for Mr. Joko, 53, who was born and raised in a riverside slum area in the city of Surakarta, also known as Solo, in Central Java Province. He grew up to be a carpenter and later a furniture exporter before entering politics in 2005. He was twice elected mayor of his hometown, then governor of Jakarta in 2012.

Mr. Joko, a thin, unassuming figure with what he has described as a typical “village face,” will be Indonesia’s seventh president and the first not to have emerged from the country’s political elite or to have been an army general.

Mr. Prabowo, 62, was a son-in-law of Suharto, the authoritarian president who was forced to resign in 1998 after 32 years in power amid pro-democracy street demonstrations. Mr. Prabowo, a successful businessman who comes from a prominent Javanese political family, has a checkered military record, including allegations of human rights abuses as a commander of Indonesia’s Special Forces and later as head of the army’s strategic reserve command. He was denied a visa to enter the United States in 2000 and is believed to be on an unofficial blacklist.

Sitting barefoot inside a small rented house in central Jakarta a few days before Tuesday’s announcement, Mr. Joko said in an interview that Indonesia’s continuing democratic transition had broken the grip of the entrenched political elite on the government. Of crucial importance to this, he said, was the introduction of direct elections from president all the way down to town mayor a decade ago, as part of a national decentralization policy that replaced Suharto’s centralized system of governance.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/world/asia/joko-widodo-populist-governor-is-named-winner-in-indonesian-election.html?_r=0

[Turborama]

5. Prabowo Calls on World Leaders to ‘Withhold Congratulatory Statements’ to Jokowi

Jakarta. The campaign team of Prabowo Subianto has called on the international community to withhold congratulatory statements to president-elect Joko Widodo until the losing presidential candidate has resolved accusations of electoral fraud in the Constitutional Court.

“Prabowo never withdrew from the election process,” spokesman Tantowi Yahya said at the InterContinental Hotel in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. “He withdrew from the recapitulation process.”

This morning’s press conference was attended by Tantowi, lawyer Mahendrata and Prabowo’s chief adviser and patron, Hashim Djojohadikusumo. The conference was announced last night to address whether or not Prabowo had formally withdrawn his candidacy to become Indonesia’s next president.

Prabowo addressed reporters on Tuesday just hours before the official announcement of the vote count and said that he was withdrawing from the counting process — an unexpected spanner in the works that was widely interpreted to mean he was canceling his candidacy.

Joko Widodo was confirmed as president on Tuesday night by the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU). Joko won 53.15 percent of the vote, while Prabowo received 46.85 percent.

More: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/prabowo-calls-world-leaders-withhold-congratulatory-statements-jokowi/

[Turborama]

6. Obama congratulates Indonesia's incoming president Jokowi

JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Best wishes and congratulations from world leaders have been flowing in for president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, following Tuesday evening's final election result announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

US President Barack Obama, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott were among the first world leaders to call Jokowi and congratulate him.

"Last night, Pak SBY (outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) and Mr Vice President Boediono called and congratulated me. This morning, the Singaporean PM and Australian PM called me. At 11am today, Mr Obama called and congratulated me," Jokowi said at City Hall in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Jokowi said that each of the leaders had offered a positive message of support in the hopes of forging solid bilateral ties with Indonesia.

More: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/obama-congratulates-indonesias-incoming-president-jokowi-20140723

[AngryAmish]

7. I liked her onThe Jersey Shore