In a subtle rebuke to his rival’s repeated victory declaration, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Thursday evening that more than 13 state leaders had congratulated “all Indonesians, as well as Jokowi and Ma’ruf” for the success of the general election on April 17.
He was referring to his running mate Ma’ruf Amin.
“From noon to late afternoon I have received calls from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as well as Turkish President Erdogan. Ten other [state leaders] have conveyed their congratulations for the big democracy celebration in our country, including the legislative election. They congratulated all Indonesians, as well as Jokowi and Ma’ruf for the success of the general election on April 17,” Jokowi said on Thursday.
At no point in his speech or answers to journalists did Jokowi declare victory, but he confirmed that the congratulations were for him and Ma’ruf and that they were all “special”.
Earlier on Wednesday, his rival Prabowo Subianto declared victory twice and made a third declaration on Thursday, almost at the same time as Jokowi’s declaration.
“Second, we are going to continue waiting, waiting for the official count from the General Elections Commission [KPU], which we hope can be completed as soon as possible. But the available quick counts have given us a clear result. I cannot declare the numbers yesterday because [the samples] were still under 70 percent. But today, because it is already almost 100 percent, we can declare that quick counts from 12 survey institutions have shown that Jokowi-Ma’ruf got 54.5 percent [of the vote] while Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno got 45.5 percent,” Jokowi went on.
Jokowi said quick counts were a scientific method to count an election result, but he reiterated that everyone should wait for the KPU’s official real count. The real count could take about three weeks.
Jokowi said he had sent someone to arrange a meeting with Prabowo and Sandiaga but they had not yet met.