Indonesian President Joko Widodo looks set for another term

With a clear lead in Wednesday’s elections, Widodo declared victory in the presidential election to the world’s third-largest democracy but his opponent also claimed victory and complained of widespread cheating.

Multiple quick counts from different election observers on Wednesday showed Jokowi leading at 55 to 45 per cent, indicating a 10-point lead over his long-time rival Prabowo Subianto, a former general.

Unofficial results from private pollsters based on vote samples from the election also pointed Widodo winning about 55 per cent of the popular vote.

While the official result will not be announced until 22 May, Widodo told reporters he had received congratulatory calls from 22 state leaders, including Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Widodo, however, urged supporters to wait for official results to confirm the win.

Rival presidential candidate Prabowo appeared defiant and said his team had evidence of cheating and claimed to have won 62 per cent of the popular vote based on internal polling.

“We have declared (victory) because we got evidence of widespread cheating at the village, sub-district and district levels across Indonesia,” he said at a separate news conference.

Prabowo declared victory, standing next to his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, who looked more subdued.

Prabowo had claimed victory in the 2014 election as well, before contesting the results at the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Widodo’s win.

Financial markets surged early on Thursday on Widodo’s apparent victory, although gains were pared later. The rupiah ended the day up 0.3 per cent from the previous close, and the Jakarta stock index - at one point up 2.4 per cent - closed 0.4.