Indonesia's Widodo wins re-election with 55.5 pct votes

Indonesia's incumbent candidate President Joko Widodo won his re-election with 55.5 percent votes, failing his arch rival, former army general Prabowo Subianto who obtained 44.5 percent votes, Indonesia's General Election Commission (KPU) announced on Tuesday.

In this April 17, 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin wave to journalists after a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.[File Photo: AP/Achmad Ibrahim]

Joko Widodo's victory was confirmed at 1:46 a.m. after the KPU finished the real counts on votes originated from all polling booths in 34 provinces and 130 cities in foreign countries.

"I hereby decided and set the final KPU decision on results of elections on president and vice president, central parliament members, regional representatives members, provincial parliament members, regency/municipal parliament members in 2019 elections," KPU Chairman Arief Budiman said here.

Joko Widodo earned over 85.6 million votes, legally enabling him to serve presidency until 2024 with Ma'ruf Amin as his deputy.

Meanwhile, Prabowo Subianto, who ran with young businessman Sandiaga Uno as his sidekick in the election, earned over 68.6 million votes, according to KPU.

In 2014 presidential election, Joko Widodo won 53.15 percent votes against Prabowo Subianto who obtained 46.85 percent votes.

The KPU would legally set Joko Widodo and Ma'ruf Amin as the elected president and vice president on May 24 unless a lawsuit is lodged in the nation's Constitutional Court (MK) related to the KPU's announcement on election results.

"The lawsuit is allowed within three days, so we will ask the MK whether a lawsuit has been filed or not. We will officially set the elected president and vice president after obtaining confirmation from the MK related to the lawsuit," a KPU commissioner Hasyim Asyari said on the sidelines of the elections result announcement event.

Prabowo's camp refused to sign the KPU official document on the presidential election results. They demanded to repeat the presidential election in five provinces where they claimed the elections were marred with frauds.

In legislative election, the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) obtained the largest votes of over 19 percent among a total of 16 political parties. It was followed by Gerindra, an opposition party, at 12.57 percent and Golkar party at 12.31 percent.