Presumptive presidential election winner Prabowo Subianto will need to maintain a “cordial relationship” with outgoing leader President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo if he is to fulfill many of his ambitious campaign promises, experts have said, as they weigh in on the likely challenges faced by a Prabowo administration.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) is racing to finish its tiered vote tabulation of last month’s general election after sluggish progress in several provinces, including West Java, has cast doubt over the poll body’s ability to meet its March 20 deadline.

Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution, who is also President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law, has said he will join the North Sumatra gubernatorial election in November.

Claiming to have found evidence that last month’s election was rigged, the rival camps of presumptive president-elect Prabowo Subianto are completing preparations to challenge the results at the Constitutional Court, which will open for disputes next week.

Several world leaders have congrulated the defense minister for his presumptive victory in the 2024 general election based on quick count results.

Political parties behind presumptive presidential election winner Prabowo Subianto appear to have distanced themselves from a potential race to capture the House of Representatives speakership from the largest party in the legislature, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Questions remain over how presumptive president-elect Prabowo Subianto is planning to fund his flagship free school lunch program after a senior minister’s proposal to dip into school aid funds was met with widespread opposition from teachers.

Civil society organizations are urging political parties to exercise their right to an inquiry by launching a House of Representatives probe into allegations of election fraud, which have continued to gain traction less than two weeks before the General Elections Commission (KPU)  is due to announce the official winners.

Once considered an important part of the KPU’s commitment to upholding transparency in the vote counting process, the Sirekap application has only courted controversy since its deployment in the Feb. 14 general election.

The NasDem Party advocates for the adjustment of the threshold to seven percent, arguing that this would improve the decision-making process at the House of Representatives.

The KPU is preparing several measures at the Constitutional Court to anticipate the possibility of disputes regarding the general election results.

The KPU is scheduled to announce the results of the Feb. 14 general election on March 20.  

The presidential candidate's camp dismisses the allegations as politically motivated amid Ganjar's push for a House of Representatives inquiry against alleged irregularities and fraud on the 2024 general election.

The absence of official instruction from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leadership on whether and how to pursue a legislative inquiry into alleged irregularities in the February general election, coupled with hesitation among several sympathetic political parties to commit to a probe, threatens to kill the investigation before it is even launched.

“The publication of the preliminary vote count has been stopped, so the public will now only be receiving more certain information regarding the results of the general election,” KPU commissioner Idham Holik told the Post on Wednesday.

Ganjar's campaign team has hit back at Indonesia Police Watch's report to the KPK alleging the former Central Java governor and an ex-Bank Jateng director of bribery, suggesting it was politically motivated due to the IPW chair's ties to the PSI, which is led by Jokowi's youngest son Kaesang.

House of Representatives lawmakers have said a proposal to move the upcoming regional elections forward might be off the table after a Constitutional Court opinion held that the polls should remain in November.

House of Representatives members marked their return from recess on Tuesday with some factions calling for the House to open an inquiry into reports of irregularities and fraud that allegedly marred last month’s general election.

The poll body is scrutinizing the list of Indonesian voters in Kuala Lumpur following alleged electoral fraud that led to the annulment of the vote in the city and consequently a revote.

A barrage of complaints over apparent data breaches in the 2024 voter roll and inaccuracies in a new tabulation platform has cast further doubt on the integrity of the already troubled General Elections Commission (KPU) and its ability to reliably determine the results of the 2024 election.

The seven suspects allegedly tampered with the final Kuala Lumpur voter list by illegally adding, removing or falsifying data on the list, according to the police.

The tabulation of votes for the 2024 general election started on Wednesday morning amid doubts about the reliability of election data and an ethics probe into the conduct of General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Hasyim Asy’ari and other commissioners.

Analysts are convinced that the meetings between the two political bigwigs are not just another case of silaturahmi (maintaining social ties), but an indication of a power struggle between Prabowo and the incumbent Jokowi.

Official results of the presidential election are not due until March 20, but a majority of respondents in a recent opinion survey said they trusted the preliminary vote tally on General Elections Commission’s (KPU) tabulation platform Sirekap so far, amid reports of irregularities in its data.

A government led by presumptive presidential election winner Prabowo Subianto looks increasingly likely to face stiff opposition from presumptive legislative election winner the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), according to an early mapping of House of Representatives seats.

Up to 108 election workers have died and more than 14,300 others have fallen ill as of Feb. 22, which has prompted soul-searching and calls to reassess whether the country really needs to hold the presidential and legislative elections on a single day.

Amnesty International Indonesia recorded a gradual increase in incidences targeting vocal critics of potential fraud and the President's perceived meddling that it says have tainted the 2024 general election on Feb. 14.