Jokowi leading, Prabowo boycotts vote-Counting process

By Mohd Shukri Ishak

JAKARTA, May 15 (Bernama) - The vote-counting process for Indonesia's presidential election has reached over 80 percent, with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) comfortably ahead of his challenger, Prabowo Subianto.

Prabowo, who had earlier rejected the election quick-count results by independent bodies that claimed Jokowi was leading, has now boycotted the official vote-counting process by the nation’s  Election Commission (KPU), claiming that it had fraudulent elements.

According to the commission’s official website, the counting of the votes as of noon today,  had covered  669,846 out of 813,350 polling centres.

Jokowi, who is defending his post together with  running mate for vice-president Ma 'ruf Amin, has garnered 71,029,379 votes.  Prabowo, a former general and his running mate, businessman Sandiaga Uno obtained 55,282,221 votes.

On April 17, 77.5 per cent of  the 192,828,520 eligible voters, had cast their votes in the nation’s 2019 general election.

The  election process is expected to be completed by May 22.

A political observer said that Prabowo's action had sparked a new polemic, a move that was unclear and without facts.

“Where is the cheating? Who carried out such activities? What was the model and mode?

"The boycott is not based on facts and data,” added the observer.

-- BERNAMA