Joko Widodo re-elected as Indonesia President

Joko Widodo re-elected as Indonesia President

JAKARTA, March 30, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian presidential candidate and incumbent President Joko Widodo attends the fourth debate in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 30, 2019. Indonesia will hold its presidential election in April 2019. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B/IANS)

Jakarta, May 21 (IANS) Joko Widodo has been re-elected as Indonesia's president after last month's vote, beating former general Prabowo Subianto.

The result was released a day ahead of schedule in the early hours of Tuesday, amid fears of violent unrest, the BBC reported.

Around 32,000 security personnel were deployed across the capital, Jakarta.

Prabowo, 67, has not yet confirmed if he will challenge the result in court.

Ahead of the final tally he had alleged "widespread cheating" and warned of potential street protests.

In 2014, Prabowo lost a court challenge following an earlier election defeat by Widodo.

The latest vote followed a bitter campaign in which religion played a key role, but independent observers have said it was free and fair.

Widodo won 55.5 per cent of the vote to Prabowo's 44.5 per cent, the Election Commission said.

More than 192 million people were eligible to vote in the April 17 poll, choosing 20,000 local and national lawmakers.

Azis Subekti, a witness from the retired general's campaign team, refused to sign the results.

"We won't give up in the face of this injustice, cheating, lies, and these actions against democracy," he said.

--IANS

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