Victory for Jokowi

We can confidently proclaim that Joko Widodo will be Indonesia’s next president, now that the results of the vote counting process from all 33 provinces are in, rendering Tuesday’s official announcement by the General Elections Commission, or KPU, a mere formality.

According to the compilation of results from the provincial offices of the KPU, Joko has won the presidency with 53.17 percent, or 70.7 million of the total 133 million votes, while Prabowo Subianto garnered 46.83 percent, or 62.3 million votes.

The results mirror findings by the majority of quick counts from the day of the election.

Prabowo, however, quickly questioned the validity and credibility of the vote count. He accused it of being rigged and demanded that the KPU halt the process, conduct a revote and thus delay the announcement.

While Prabowo has the right to protest, he ought to do so in the due process of law. He should not pressure the KPU, but instead allow the commission to finish its count. He can then challenge the results in the Constitutional Court, with the evidence of vote rigging and manipulation he has collected.

But with an 8.4 million difference in votes, we are convinced that it is an incontestable victory. Challenging Joko’s win will waste the time of the Indonesian people, who have already endured the waiting game of uncertainty and the fear of conflict.

With such a sizable vote gap, Prabowo would need to find evidence of fraud in almost every province and district in order to convince the court to overturn the KPU’s decision. Doing so would only confirm the suspicion that he is in denial and looking for an outlet to vent his disappointment.

We hope Prabowo will accept the outcome and will do right by it now.