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Prabowo claims election lead, accuses pollsters of being 'partisan'
Prabowo camp's internal quick count has him leading with 52.5 percent of the vote.
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Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto speaks at a press conference during the general election in Jakarta on April 17, 2019. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
P
rabowo has claimed a lead over incumbent Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in Indonesia's presidential election, just a few hours after several quick-count surveys showed that Jokowi had about 55 percent of the vote so far.
Prabowo camp's internal quick count has him leading with 52.5 percent. He also claimed to have won the exit poll at around 5,000 polling stations with 55.4 percent of the vote.
Quick counts from Kompas show him trailing behind Jokowi at about 45 percent, while another from the Centre of Strategic and International Studies-Cyrus Network placed him at about 44 percent as of Wednesday evening.
"I would like to emphasize that certain pollsters have been partisan; [they are trying to] sway public opinion as if we have already lost," Prabowo said.
He also encouraged his supporters to guard ballot boxes while avoiding "anarchist actions".
"These ballot boxes are the key to our victory," Prabowo added.
He further claimed that several things had happened on Tuesday evening that put him at a disadvantage, such as his supporters being denied voting invitation forms (C6) and ballots being marked in favor of Jokowi even before polls opened.
