A Guide to Indonesian Elections: Jokowi vs Prabowo

A closer look to the Indonesian elections, and what they mean for the balance of power in Asia (and the rest of the world).

Current President Jokowi (left) and his challenger Prabowo (right)

193 million Indonesians are called to vote for their Presidential Elections on April 17. They will have to choose between Joko Widodo, broadly known as Jokowi, and Prabowo Subianto, for his electors just Prabowo. Around 2 million actually already voted: they are the ones living abroad, who cast their preference ten to three days before the D-Day.

It will be a kind of re-match of the 2014 elections, when Jokowi won with a 6% margin on his opponent, collecting more than 70 million votes.

But who are the two candidates? Let’s take a closer look, of course from a Westerner perspective — even though I’m trying my best to understand the local perspective.

Jokowi: the Infrastructure-man

Jokowi is the candidate of the so called “Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle”, while Prabowo is the candidate of a coalition of parties including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Democratic Party and Berkarya Party.