Lol it may have been a given to you but not to Indonesians or others close to this. It was "perceived" to be likely Jokowi would win, then along came Prabowo with his bags of money and his TV station owner (TVone) and media mogul running mate Hatta.
Late news is Prabowo is claiming victory based on the rubbery figures of his chosen "poll" group seen only on Hattas TV station and one other. He gave his emotive, if not aggressive, speech behind the closed doors of TVone to a handful of party faithful.
Jokowi claimed victory, based on the official polls, in the symbolic place of Soekarno's monument in front of thousands publicly. He has not deployed or hired anyone, he will leave the outcome to the govt ballot.
Fears here now Prabowo will try to fiddle with the outcome. he hs hired 1000 people directly to "oversee" the election and "protect" the ballots.
Locations Prabowo exerts "influence" he was a winner by a country mile, especially corrupt Nth Sumatra. Locations his doesn't exert influence such as central Java, Bali and Papua Prabowo was slaughtered,
So as only can happen here, the outcome is far from over and won't be officially known until the sitting govt announces the winner on 22/7. noting the sitting govt threw support behind Prabowo pre-election.
Prabowo is well known for his tactics and Suharto autocratic style, how he even got a ticket is amasing. Any thinking person would expect he will do as the head of the now convicted constitutional court did and "influence" the outcome...or at least try to. He is not known for his integrity, despite his speech stating the outcome should not be influenced. he had already publicly bought votes up to this point on a mass scale. It will be difficult for him to do so however given the public nature of poll counting here.
So although Jokowi is clearly the expected legal winner based on official "quick count" figures, the outcome is definitely not "a given" nor ever was.
Prabowo is an aggressor and clearly dislikes losing, he will likely do all he can to turn this his way now. An Army General with a personal fortune amassed of over US$135.5m, questionable in itself on a govt salary, and history of inciting and instigating violent fatal riots (he left the country to exile in Jordan to avoid questioning over the Jakarta riots he incited and has never been questioned) will not give up easily. He is also banned from entry to the US due to his human rights violations as a general under Suharto, so if he won this would be interesting.
Suharto lives on.....and this is not yet over.
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