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What does Prabowo-Gibran’s win mean for Indonesian democracy?
In the next regime under Prabowo, human rights issues will be far from resolved, instead further contributing to the weakening of democratic institutions.
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Celebration: Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (left, front row) and running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka wave to their supporters on Feb. 14, 2024 at the Senayan Sports Hall in Jakarta. According to several quick counts, the pair won the election with a wide lead. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
According to quick counts released by several pollsters, the President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-backed presidential candidate pair of Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka took a winning lead of over 57 percent of the vote versus rival contenders Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.
Prabowo-Gibran has secured over the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright in the first round. The final count still needs to be officially confirmed. However, most Indonesians have now accepted that the next five years will be under president Prabowo.
What would Prabowo-Gibran’s win mean for our democracy?
As Levitsky and Ziblatt point out in their 2018's How Democracies Die, an essential test for democracies is not whether extremist demagogues or autocratic politicians such as Donald Trump in the United States emerge.
However, they argue, the test is whether political figures, particularly those in positions of authority, try to keep them from rising to the top by preventing them from running with tickets from mainstream parties, refusing to support or associate with them and, when needed, uniting with opponents to back democratic candidates.
Our democracy has failed the test.
On the one hand, we should be proud of the resilience of our democracy. Democracy requires all parties and candidates to compete in elections if they would like to gain a position either in executive or legislative offices.
