Indonesia: Prabowo Subianto has been confirmed president-elect after his rivals claimed fraud

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto was declared the winner of the presidential elections that took place last month in the third largest democracy in the world.

Prabowo called for unity, while his rivals Anies Baswedan and Jangar Prannow vowed to challenge the result.

The former general, who has been dogged by allegations of human rights violations for decades, received 58.59% of the votes.

“For those who did not vote for us, give us a chance,” the 72-year-old said after the Election Commission announced the official count on Wednesday evening.

“We will prove that as president and vice president, we will work as hard as possible for the entire Indonesian people,” he said.

He will take office in October, succeeding President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi.

Eighty percent of 205 million registered voters across 17,000 islands and three time zones streamed to polling stations on February 14, making it the world's largest single-day election.

Mr. Prabowo's votes exceeded the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Mr. Anis and Mr. Gengar received 25% and 16% respectively.

Mr Prabowo thanked the popular Jokowi, whose tacit support is widely believed to have helped him win. The former general lost two presidential elections to Jokowi in 2014 and 2019.

His running mate – now vice president-elect – is Jokowi's eldest son, Gebran Rakabuming Raka, who was only able to run after the age limit was lowered at the last minute.

Prabowo declared his victory after the elections that took place on February 14, when unofficial statistics showed that he was strongly superior to his competitors. World leaders also congratulated him during the past weeks.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his “sincere congratulations” and praised Indonesians for their “strong turnout and commitment to democracy and the rule of law.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement that he looked forward to “further deepening our strategic partnership,” a view echoed by the French Foreign Ministry.

Anticipating protests from supporters of Mr. Anies and Mr. Jangar, police deployed more than 3,000 officers on guard across the capital, Jakarta, before the official results were announced.

Protesters took to the streets in recent weeks, claiming widespread fraud in the elections.

Among other things, Mr. Anies and Mr. Ginger had previously alleged that Mr. Gebran's nomination was part of behind-the-scenes maneuvers that showed Mr. Jokowi's bias towards the Prabowo-Gebran camp.

Anis said on Wednesday that there were electoral irregularities and that his legal team would take the matter to court.

Reuters quoted him as saying, “Leadership born from a tainted process full of deviations and fraud will produce a system with unfair policies.”

The head of Mr Genjar's legal team told BBC Indonesia that they would appeal the result in court. They must do this within the next three days, according to the laws of the country.

“There were a lot of complaints about irregularities. This election in the era of reform was taken into account [by many] “It should be less free and fair than previous elections in the post-Suharto period,” Indonesian professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar told BBC's Newsday program on Thursday.

The Era of Reform, also known as the Era of Reform, began with the fall of authoritarian Indonesian President Suharto in May 1998.

“Academics and civil society organizations across the country have expressed concerns about this [alleged] “Ethical and legal violations, and improper, or even illegal, use of state resources,” said Ms. Dewi, a professor at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency.

Additional reporting from BBC Indonesia