Prabowo Subianto Elected As New President Of Indonesia

Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto has been elected as president of the world's third-biggest democracy, the elections commission said Wednesday, decisively beating two rivals who have vowed to file a legal complaint about the vote.

Defence Minister Prabowo and his vice-presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka received more than 96 million votes, commission chairman Hasyim Asy'ari said, roughly 58.6 percent of the total count and enough to secure a first-round majority.

Anies Baswedan secured nearly 41 million votes, or 24.9 percent of the total count, while Ganjar Pranowo received 27 million votes, more than 16 percent.

Prabowo and Gibran -- the eldest son of outgoing leader Joko Widodo -- already declared victory last month after unofficial counts showed them winning a majority.

Prabowo, 72, was widely predicted to win the presidency on his third attempt. He will take over the presidency in October after a transition period.

His popularity soared because of what experts said was his nationalist verve in populist speeches, strongman credentials as defence minister and backing from Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi.

His rivals Anies and Ganjar have vowed to submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court about irregularities and allegations of fraud during the election.

But Prabowo's legal team is confident the result will not be successfully challenged because of his majority and wide margin of victory, local media reported Tuesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)