I/II. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/22/us-indonesia-election-idUSKBN0FQ23F20140722
Indonesian president-elect Jokowi calls for unity after bitter election BY JONATHAN THATCHER <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=jonathan.thatcher&;> AND KANUPRIYA KAPOOR JAKARTA Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:43pm EDT 1 OF 2. Indonesian presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (C) walks while waiting for the results announcement by the Elections Commission, at Waduk Pluit in Jakarta July 22, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS/BEAWIHARTA (Reuters) - Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election on Tuesday, bringing the promise of major reforms to the world's third largest democracy. The Elections Commission, known as KPU, said the Jakarta governor had won by just over six percentage points, with 53.15 percent of the nearly 130 million votes cast on July 9. It was the closest and most bitterly fought election in Indonesia's history, pitting Jokowi against former general Prabowo Subianto, whose promise of strong leadership brought echoes of decades under autocratic rule. "This victory is a victory for all the people of Indonesia," the president-elect told hundreds of supporters gathered at a port on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, chosen to emphasize his commitment to Indonesia's maritime potential. He and his vice president-elect, Jusuf Kalla, arrived by speed boat. "With humility, we ask the people...to go back to a united Indonesia," he added. In an interview with Reuters before the result was announced, Jokowi promised to simplify life for investors by beefing up the country's threadbare infrastructure, unravel near impenetrable regulations and sack ministers if they were not up to the job. His can-do approach, impatience with bureaucracy and willingness to communicate directly with ordinary people has won him a huge following in a country where close to 40 percent of the population live below or close to the poverty line. When he moves into the presidential palace in October he will be Indonesia's seventh president, its third to be elected by direct vote and its first to be a businessman and not come from the elite. Tuesday's vote count nearly came unstuck after his rival accused the KPU of failing to properly investigate allegations of what his team said was widespread cheating. But, unexpectedly, Prabowo decided not to challenge the result in the Constitutional Court, his lawyer Mahendradatta said. That could have dragged out the process for several weeks. METEORIC RISE A former furniture businessman, Jokowi has had a meteoric rise through Indonesia's political establishment. Born into poverty but now governor of Jakarta, he won over voters with a clean image and a reputation for competence in local government, in contrast to the autocracy, corruption and power politics that have weighed down the country for decades. The new president, who starts his five-year term on Oct. 20, faces huge challenges to boost Indonesia's sagging growth, cut an unsettlingly large current account deficit that is weighing on the currency and meet pledges to improve the lot of its 240 million people. Once surging foreign investment has started to taper off, with companies put off by the lack of infrastructure and what are seen as increasingly nationalist laws. Poverty among the world's biggest Muslim population is also worsening and the budget is too tight to allow heavy spending. One of Jokowi's first challenges will be to cut into fuel subsidies which distort the economy <http://www.reuters.com/finance/economy?lc=int_mb_1001>and eat up about a fifth of the annual budget. ALLEGATIONS OF MASS CHEATING Though the KPU has been widely praised for the way it has conducted the vote, the Prabowo camp has alleged mass cheating in the ballot, enough, they say, to overturn Jokowi's victory. Confusion over Prabowo's position regarding the election count was enough to rattle Jakarta shares, which had been rising on expectations of a win by Jokowi who is seen as more investor friendly. At one stage the main index was down two percent on worries that the increasingly shrill dispute could spill over into violence. Prices later recovered. There have been no reports of major unrest since the election. Hundreds of thousands of police and military personnel are on heightened alert across the vast archipelago, home to the world's biggest Muslim population. (Additional reporting by Dennys Kapa, Chris Nusatya, Fransiska Nangoy, Gayatri Suroyo, Fergus Jensen, Nilufar Rizki, Wilda Asmarini, Yayat Surpiatna and Eveline Danubrata, Writing by Randy Fabi and Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Mike Collett-White <http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=mike.collett.white&;> ) II. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/indonesia-election-winner-announced/5616014 Indonesia elections: Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo confirmed as next president after official results released Greg Jennet in Jakarta Updated 2 hours 41 minutes ago Joko Widodo has been declared the winner of Indonesia's Presidential election and will take office in October. The election commission has declared that Mr Widodo won the poll with almost 71 million votes or just over 53%. The former military general Prabowo Subianto received 62.5 million votes or 46.8% Mr Subianto had thrown the final declaration into confusion with an attempt to withdraw from the process at the 11th hour. Some supporters had even suggested he was no longer an actual candidate. But the Commission's declaration indicates his status was unchanged. <http://twitter.com/search?q=indonesia+OR+prabowo+OR+joko+OR+kpu+from%3Ahbrown10+OR+from%3Ageorge_roberts+OR+from%3Aan_news> Ahead of the announcement, Indonesian Democratic Party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri claimed victory for at a news conference in Jakarta. "I want to declare that we, the party that supports and puts forward Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla (for vice president), has won," she said. Last minute confusion Earlier in the day as Indonesia announcement drew closer, Jokowi's opposition candidate Prabowo Subianto moved to withdraw his candidacy, calling the election process undemocratic. Mr Subianto - who had also claimed victory in the July 9 election - alleged "massive fraud" and said he was withdrawing from the race to lead the world's third-biggest democracy. "There has been a massive, structured and systematic fraud in the 2014 elections," Prabowo said. "The presidential election, organised by the (election commission), is not democratic," he told reporters, adding the commission was "not fair or transparent". Prabowo, 62, had been widely expected to challenge the result in the Constitutional Court if he lost, but a spokesman for his team said this was no longer an option since they had withdrawn from the whole process. The decision removes the prospect of prolonged political deadlock, since the court would not have ruled until the end of August. If Mr Widodo's victory is confirmed, it would cap a meteoric rise for the former furniture exporter who was born in a riverbank slum, and would be welcomed by investors who hope he can breathe new life into the economy after a recent slowdown. With the Jakarta governor's victory looking assured, Mr Subianto repeated allegations of massive cheating by his opponent and announced he was pulling out of the election process. Tensions have risen sharply since election day as each side accused the other of seeking to tamper with the votes during the lengthy counting process across the world's biggest archipelago nation. There are fears the tension could spark unrest in a country that was hit by repeated outbreaks of violence before Suharto's downfall in 1998, and more than 250,000 police were deployed across the country on Tuesday. Security was particularly tight in the capital Jakarta, with hundreds of police in riot gear stationed around the election commission headquarters, and roads around the centre of the capital closed off to traffic. *ABC/Wires* -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
