JAKARTA: Former general Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in Indonesia's presidential election on Wednesday as preliminary results put him well ahead of his two rivals to lead Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
"All counts, all pollsters... showed figures that Prabowo-Gibran won in one round," he told a cheering crowd at a packed arena in central Jakarta, referring to his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
"This victory should be a victory for all Indonesians."
Official results are not due until next month but at least four government-approved groups -- making projections based on official early tallying -- showed Subianto winning a clear majority in one round.
Polls have long shown the fiery defence minister to be the favourite for the presidency after he pledged to carry on the agenda of popular outgoing leader Joko Widodo.
While claiming victory, Subianto stressed "we must still wait for KPU's official result", referring to the election commission.
"We believe Indonesian democracy is running well."
Subianto, who was a military chief, needs more than 50 percent of the overall vote and at least a fifth of ballots cast in over half the country's 38 provinces to secure the presidency.
The 72-year-old Subianto -- who pushed street protests and launched legal challenges after losing the previous two elections -- thanked his supporters and called for unity.
The government-approved polling groups' "quick counts" have also been used in previous elections by candidates to claim victory.
The general election commission verifies and approves an array of pollsters who take samples at selected voting stations after polls have closed, and are allowed to watch the count by election officials.
Analysts said the projections indicate Subianto has likely avoided a second electoral battle in June against rivals Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo.
Nearly 205 million people were eligible to vote in the fifth presidential election since the end of Suharto's dictatorship in 1998.
A logistical feat in which more than 20,000 seats were up for grabs saw planes, helicopters, speedboats and even cows used to cart ballots around the sprawling archipelago of nearly 280 million people.
The vote across 800,000 polling stations began Wednesday morning in the restive region of Papua and ended at the other end of the country in jungle-clad Sumatra, while some stations in Jakarta stayed open late after the capital was inundated by thunderstorms. — AFP
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