Prabowo officially elected as Indonesia's next president, calls for unity

Final results show defense minister won 58% of votes in February polls

Prabowo Subianto, left, along with his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming, react to their supporters on the night of Indonesia's presidential election on Feb. 14. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)

NANA SHIBATA, ERWIDA MAULIA and ISMI DAMAYANTI, Nikkei staff writers

March 21, 2024 00:27 JST

Updated on March 21, 2024 14:19 JST

JAKARTA -- Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has been officially elected as Indonesia's next president and is set to succeed Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the helm of Southeast Asia's largest economy in October.

According to the official results of last month's presidential election released Wednesday night by the General Elections Commission, the 72-year-old secured 96.2 million votes, or 58.59% of the total valid votes, beating two other candidates, former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, 54, and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo, 55.