JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto has been elected president of the world’s third-biggest democracy, the elections commission said Wednesday, beating two rivals who have vowed to file legal complaints about the vote.
The fiery defense minister and his vice presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka — eldest son of outgoing leader Joko Widodo — already declared victory last month after unofficial counts showed them winning a majority.
They were officially confirmed as winners Wednesday after receiving more than 96 million votes, commission chairman Hasyim Asy’ari said, roughly 58.6 percent of the total and enough to secure a first-round majority.
“This decision is effective immediately as of March 20,” Asy’ari said.
Anies Baswedan secured 24.9 percent of the vote, while Ganjar Pranowo received more than 16 percent.
More than 164 million Indonesians voted, representing around an 80 percent turnout of eligible voters.
Prabowo, 72, was widely predicted to win the presidency on his third attempt. He takes over in October after a transition period.
Speaking outside his house in the capital Jakarta to thunderous applause from supporters, Prabowo thanked Indonesians and his party for helping him rise to the country’s highest office.
“We are grateful to the God Almighty for the official announcement from the KPU on the results of the election,” he said, referring to the elections commission.
“We would like to convey our gratitudes and the highest appreciation for all the people of Indonesia who have exercised their rights to vote.”
His popularity soared because of what experts said was his nationalist verve in populist speeches, strongman credentials as defense minister and backing from Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi.
Prabowo also offered his thanks to Jokowi, his former rival against whom he lost two election battles in 2014 and 2019.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly offered “sincere congratulations” to Prabowo, saying Washington looked “forward to partnering closely” with the ex-general, who was once placed on a US visa blacklist.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expressed his congratulations, saying in a statement that he looked forward “to deepening our strategic partnership even further” on issues like climate change.
Prabowo’s rivals, former Jakarta governor Anies and former Central Java governor Ganjar, have vowed to submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court about allegations of election irregularities and fraud.
Anies confirmed after results were announced that he would file a complaint to the court.
“A leader that was born out of a process tainted by cheating and violations will result in a regime that will produce policies that are full of unfairness, and we don’t want this to happen,” he said in a statement.
But Prabowo’s legal team is confident the result will not be successfully challenged because of his wide margin of victory, local media reported Tuesday.
Last month Indonesia held one of the world’s biggest single-day elections featuring hundreds of thousands of candidates vying for the presidency, parliamentary seats and local legislator positions.
After failing as a vice presidential candidate in 2009 and presidential candidate in 2014 and 2019, Prabowo rode to victory this time with Jokowi’s support.
The campaign was punctuated by accusations of ethical violations and interference by Jokowi, who critics said manoeuvered to install a political dynasty through his son before leaving office.
“Jokowi is the X factor that heavily influenced Prabowo’s victory,” said Firman Noor, politics professor at the National Research and Innovation Agency.
He has also tried to please Prabowo, experts say, by making him an honorary four-star general as the outgoing leader bids to keep his influence under the new administration.
Indonesia’s next president has also weathered allegations from rights groups and his former bosses that he played a role in the disappearance of student activists in the late 1990s at the end of dictator Suharto’s rule.
Between 1997 and 1998, when some kidnappings took place, Subianto led the elite army force known as Kopassus, used by Jakarta for special operations aimed at tamping down internal unrest. More than a dozen activists were never found.
He was discharged from the military over the kidnappings but has denied direct responsibility and the accusations appeared to have little impact on his electoral hopes this time.
Prabowo will inherit Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which is enjoying around five percent growth annually.
There is voter optimism about the economy with Prabowo’s pledge to carry on Jokowi’s resource nationalism that seeks to turn Indonesia into a global nickel powerhouse.
Others are less sure about the security of the country’s young democracy.
“I see the future of democracy becoming even bleaker during Prabowo’s time,” said Hurriyah, director of the University of Indonesia’s Center for Political Studies.
Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto wins presidency with first-round majority
https://arab.news/nrung
Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto wins presidency with first-round majority
- Fiery defense minister and his vice presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka — eldest son of outgoing leader Joko Widodo — already declared victory last month
- Prabowo also offered his thanks to Jokowi, his former rival against whom he lost two election battles in 2014 and 2019
PM seeks election win as Portugal campaigning ends
LISBON: Portugal’s general election campaign ends on Friday for a vote that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro is expected to win, but with no guarantee he can form a more stable government.
Montenegro’s center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition is tipped to win 34 percent of the ballot, ahead of the Socialist Party (PS) on 26 percent, according to a poll by the Portuguese Catholic University published by local media on Friday.
The upstart far-right Chega (“Enough“) party could take 19 percent of the vote — almost the same as it did in March 2024 elections — to consolidate its position as Portugal’s third political force and kingmaker.
Montenegro, as a result, risks finding himself again at the head of a minority government, caught between the PS, in power from 2015 to 2024, and Chega, with which he has refused to govern.
“People are fed up with elections, people want stability,” the premier, a 52-year-old lawyer, said during a final rally in Lisbon as he urged voters to give him a stronger mandate this time around.
Sunday’s early election will be Portugal’s third in just over three years.
It was called in March after Montenegro lost a confidence vote in parliament following accusations against him of conflicts of interest stemming from his consulting firm’s business.
As such, “staying in power would already be a good result” for the prime minister, who took a “calculated risk” in the hope of strengthening his parliamentary seat, political commentator Paula Espirito Santo told AFP.
Opinion polls appear to indicate an AD majority is unlikely but Montenegro could win the support of the Liberal Initiative party, which is predicted to secure 6.4 percent of the vote.
The PS candidate, Pedro Nuno Santos, a 48-year-old economist, has accused Montenegro of having engineered the elections “to avoid explaining himself” about his consultancy firm to a parliamentary inquiry.
“We need a change, a prudent one that will guarantee the political stability which Luis Montenegro can no longer provide,” the Socialist candidate said at a final Lisbon rally on Friday.
Faced with the risk of persistent instability, analysts and voters criticized a political class out of touch with voters who are unenthused by the prospect of another ballot.
“I’ve really had enough of all these political games. They don’t do anything for us,” said Maria Pereira, a 53-year-old saleswoman in a working-class district of Lisbon.
“Normally I vote for the small parties but this time I’m not going to waste my time going to vote.”
But Paula Tomas, a 52-year-old dentist, said Montenegro had won her confidence.
“He has the ability to get things done, but he needs time,” she said at an AD rally, waving a white-and-orange ruling party flag.
Under the Socialist Party, Portugal became one of Europe’s most open countries, but Montenegro’s government has since strengthened immigration policy.
Between 2017 and 2024, the number of foreigners living in Portugal quadrupled, reaching about 15 percent of the total population.
Immigration and suspicions about the prime minister might be fertile ground for the far right.
But Chega has also faced embarrassment, including claims that one of its lawmakers in the Azores stole luggage from airport carousels.
Its campaign was interrupted on Tuesday and Thursday when its president, 42-year-old former football commentator Andre Ventura, fell ill while campaigning and was rushed to hospital both times.
He was resting and will not longer appear at the party’s final rally. Instead he released a video message where he once again called for “an end to corruption and uncontrolled immigration.”
All political campaigning has to stop at midnight (2300 GMT Friday) before Sunday’s poll.
World Health Organization looks ahead to life without the US
LONDON/GENEVA: Hundreds of officials from the World Health Organization will join donors and diplomats in Geneva from Monday with one question dominating their thoughts — how to cope with crises from mpox to cholera without their main funder, the United States.
The annual assembly, with its week of sessions, votes and policy decisions, usually showcases the scale of the UN agency set up to tackle disease outbreaks, approve vaccines and support health systems worldwide.
This year — since US President Donald Trump started the year-long process to leave the WHO with an executive order on his first day in office in January — the main theme is scaling down.
“Our goal is to focus on the high-value stuff,” Daniel Thornton, the WHO’s director of coordinated resource mobilization, told Reuters.
Just what that “high-value stuff” will be is up for discussion. Health officials have said the WHO’s work in providing guidelines for countries on new vaccines and treatments for conditions from obesity to HIV will remain a priority.
One WHO slideshow for the event, shared with donors and seen by Reuters, suggested work on approving new medicines and responding to outbreaks would be protected, while training programs and offices in wealthier countries could be closed.
The United States had provided around 18 percent of the WHO’s funding. “We’ve got to make do with what we have,” said one Western diplomat who asked not to be named.
Staff have been getting ready — cutting managers and budgets — ever since Trump’s January announcement in a rush of directives and aid cuts that have disrupted a string of multilateral pacts and initiatives.
The year-long delay, mandated under US law, means the US is still a WHO member — its flag still flies outside the Geneva HQ — until its official departure date on January 21, 2026.
Trump — who accused the WHO of mishandling COVID, which it denies — muddied the waters days after his statement by saying he might consider rejoining the agency if its staff “clean it up.”
But global health envoys say there has since been little sign of a change of heart. So the WHO is planning for life with a $600 million hole in the budget for this year and cuts of 21 percent over the next two-year period.
CHINA TAKES LEAD
As the United States prepares to exit, China is set to become the biggest provider of state fees — one of the WHO’s main streams of funding alongside donations.
China’s contribution will rise from just over 15 percent to 20 percent of the total state fee pot under an overhaul of the funding system agreed in 2022.
“We have to adapt ourselves to multilateral organizations without the Americans. Life goes on,” Chen Xu, China’s ambassador to Geneva, told reporters last month.
Others have suggested this might be a time for an even broader overhaul, rather than continuity under a reshuffled hierarchy of backers.
“Does WHO need all its committees? Does it need to be publishing thousands of publications each year?” said Anil Soni, chief executive of the WHO Foundation, an independent fund-raising body for the agency.
He said the changes had prompted a re-examination of the agency’s operations, including whether it should be focussed on details like purchasing petrol during emergencies.
There was also the urgent need to make sure key projects do not collapse during the immediate cash crisis. That meant going to donors with particular interests in those areas, including pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic groups, Soni said.
The ELMA Foundation, which focuses on children’s health in Africa with offices in the US, South Africa and Uganda, has already recently stepped in with $2 million for the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network known as Gremlin — more than 700 labs which track infectious disease threats, he added.
Other business at the assembly includes the rubber-stamping a historic agreement on how to handle future pandemics and drumming up more cash from donors at an investment round.
But the focus will remain on funding under the new world order. In the run up to the event, a WHO manager sent an email to staff asking them to volunteer, without extra pay, as ushers.
Poles vote for a new president as security concerns loom large
WARSAW: Poles are voting Sunday in a presidential election at a time of heightened security concerns stemming from the ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine and growing worry that the US commitment to Europe’s security could be weakening under President Donald Trump.
The top two front-runners are Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a liberal allied with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian with no prior political experience who is supported by the national conservative Law and Justice party.
Recent opinion polls show Trzaskowski with around 30 percent support and Nawrocki in the mid-20s. A second round between the two is widely expected to take place on June 1.
The election is also a test of the strength of other forces, including the far right.
Sławomir Mentzen, a hard-right candidate who blends populist MAGA rhetoric with libertarian economics and a critical stance toward the European Union, has been polling in third place.
Ten other candidates are also on the ballot. With such a crowded field and a requirement that a candidate receive more than 50 percent of the vote to win outright, a second round seemed all but inevitable.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500GMT) and close at 9 p.m. (1900GMT). Exit polls will be released when voting ends, with results expected by Tuesday, possibly Monday.
Polish authorities have reported attempts at foreign interference during the campaign, including denial-of-service attacks targeting parties in Tusk’s coalition on Friday and allegations by a state research institute that political ads on Facebook were funded from abroad.
Although Poland’s prime minister and parliament hold primary authority over domestic policy, the presidency carries substantial power. The president serves as commander of the armed forces, plays a role in foreign and security policy, and can veto legislation.
The conservative outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, has repeatedly used that power over more than the past year to hamper Tusk’s agenda, for example blocking ambassadorial nominations and using his veto power to resist reversing judicial and media changes made during Law and Justice’s time in power from 2015 to late 2023.
A Trzaskowski victory could be expected to end such a standoff. He has pledged to support reforms to the courts and public media, both of which critics say were politicized under Law and Justice. Tusk’s opponents say he has also politicized public media.
Nawrocki, who leads a state historical institute, has positioned himself as a defender of conservative values and national sovereignty.
Indian space agency’s satellite mission fails due to technical issue in launch vehicle
- The EOS-09 Earth observation satellite took off on board the PSLV-C61 launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space center in southern India on Sunday morning
NEW DELHI: The Indian space agency’s mission to launch into orbit a new Earth observation satellite failed after the launch vehicle encountered a technical issue during the third stage of flight, officials said Sunday.
The EOS-09 Earth observation satellite took off on board the PSLV-C61 launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space center in southern India on Sunday morning.
“During the third stage ... there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case, and the mission could not be accomplished,” said V. Narayanan, chief of the Indian Space Research Organization.
Active in space research since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014.
After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole in 2023 in a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold reserves of frozen water. The mission was dubbed as a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation.
Indian vets to be re-deployed as security guards in Kashmir, says Delhi
- Around 70 people were killed in violence last week in worst India-Pakistan fighting in decades
- Around 4,000 veterans have been “identified” as non-combatant volunteers, says Indian government
Srinagar, India: Military veterans will be redeployed as security guards in Indian-administered Kashmir, New Delhi said on Saturday, a week after it reached a ceasefire with Pakistan to end their most serious conflict in decades.
Around 70 people were killed in the violence, which was sparked by an attack on tourists by gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir last month that New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — a charge it denies.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir approved a “proposal for mobilizing Ex-Servicemen (ESM) to safeguard vital infrastructure across the Union Territory,” according to a government press release.
Around 4,000 veterans have been “identified” as non-combatant volunteers, out of which 435 have licensed personal weapons, it said.
This will help by “significantly enhancing the capacity to respond effectively to localized security situations,” the government added.
Veterans will work in “static guard” roles, focusing on “presence-based deterrence and local coordination.”
India already has an estimated half a million soldiers permanently deployed in the contested region that has been at the heart of several wars between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who administer separate portions of the divided territory.
Rebels in India’s Jammu and Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Fighting had decreased since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the territory’s partial autonomy and imposed direct control from New Delhi.
But last year, thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across the territory’s mountainous south following a series of deadly rebel attacks that had left more than 50 soldiers dead in three years.
A similar veteran volunteer program took place with 2,500 veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the government.
