Rival Claims in Indonesian Election

Jakarta governor Joko Widodo “claimed victory Wednesday in a closely fought Indonesian presidential election, but his rival disputed the unofficial vote count and refused to concede defeat,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Widodo, who saw his once-commanding lead in opinion polls evaporate in recent months, declared that he won based on unofficial vote tallies by independent organizations that showed him with a lead of 3-6 percentage points. Those organizations had been roughly accurate in using quick counts of a sampling of polling stations to predict results of April legislative elections. But Prabowo Subianto, a former army general from the era of authoritarian ruler Suharto, claimed that he had won a mandate and refused to concede. His camp said pollsters used by his campaign indicated he likely won by 4-5 percentage points.”