Joko Widodo wins Indonesia presidential election

World Today

Indonesia has elected a new president to lead the country for the next five years. Andy Saputra reports from the Jakarta.

After the tightest presidential election race in the country’s recent history, Indonesians voted for Joko Widodo by a margin of six percent. He will lead the world’s most populous Muslim nation for the next five years and said his priority after a highly divisive campaign will be reconciliation. That could prove to be a challenge, as even before the official results were announced, Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi’s opponent, rejected the election process as unfair.

With Jokowi leading with 52 percent of the vote, Subianto said he was withdrawing from the contest. The move is unlikely to effect the legitimacy of the election. It’s speculated that the president-elect will need to reunite a divided Indonesia if the country’s most pressing problems are to be addressed, such as systemic corruption, growing religious intolerance and a lack of civil infrastructure.

Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy and southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Joko Widodo wins Indonesia presidential election

In a historic day, Indonesia , the world's third largest democracy, and southeast Asia's largest economy has elected a new president to lead the country for the next five years. Andy Saputra reports from the Jakarta.