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. 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. (Source: REUTERS)
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:48:52 +0000
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