Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto Leads in Presidential Candidate Polls: Foreign Media Takes Notice

Editorial Team, CNBC Indonesia

Sunday, 08/10/2023 08:15 WIB

Photo: Illustration of the 2024 Presidential Candidates (CNBC Indonesia/ Edward Ricardo)

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indonesia will soon implement a democratic party through general elections and presidential elections. It turns out that the excitement towards the gate of the political year was not only followed by local media but also foreign media.

This time, the issue that is receiving attention is related to the figure of the presidential candidate (capres) who is currently at the top of opinion polls in the country.

Collect Reuters, Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto was ahead in the latest survey last Wednesday. He is said to dominate, followed by the former Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo.

“Indonesia’s Defense Minister, a former special forces commander, topped an opinion poll published on Wednesday, as candidates prepare to register for next year’s presidential election which is expected to be tight,” the media wrote, quoted on Sunday (8/10/2023).

“Prabowo Subianto and Ganjar Pranowo, former Governor of Central Java, dominated surveys ahead of the election in the G20 economy which is worth trillions of dollars and is the third largest democracy in the world, after former Governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan,” he added.

This article also includes the latest survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), where 34% of respondents would choose Prabowo.

Meanwhile, only 30.4% chose Ganjar and around 22% Anses. The survey was conducted with 1,206 people in September with a margin of error of 2.9%.

“In the second round of elections, Prabowo will win over Ganjar with a margin of around 11 points,” Reuters quoted Djayadi Hanan as LSI chairman.

“Prabowo Subianto has an advantage of 11.3%… This is quite a significant advantage.”

However, citing another analyst from Indonesian Political Indicators, Burhanuddin Muhtadi actually explained how 40% of citizens still had not made a choice. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analyst Philips J. Vermonte also expressed the same thing, considering that not a single candidate has officially registered at this time.

“The three, and their partners, are expected to officially register between October 19 and 25,” Reuters added.

The Indonesian presidential election itself will be held simultaneously on February 14. Prabowo is also said to be able to win the heart of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) even though he comes from a different party, which will certainly boost his electability.

“Prabowo, who lost consecutive presidential bids in 2014 and 2019, gained momentum after embarking on a rebranding campaign in which he reached out to the younger generation through a sophisticated social media presence,” explained the media.

“Analysts are closely watching who will win the support of the hugely popular incumbent Joko Widodo … who is limited to two five-year terms,” he added.

“Jokowi, as the president is known, has voiced his support for Ganjar, a fellow member of the ruling Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). But tensions between him and PDI-P Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri, as well as his increasing frequency of public appearances with Prabowo, have leading analysts to suggest that he is still weighing his options,” the media added.

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