ASSESSMENTS

Indonesians Get Ready to Pass Judgement on 'Jokowi'

Mar 8, 2019 | 10:00 GMT

An audience watches the second presidential debate between Indonesian incumbent President Joko Widodo and candidate for president Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on Feb. 17, 2019. Neither candidate is likely to radically alter Jakarta's path in the event of victory.

(ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

In campaigning ahead of April nationwide elections, Indonesia's opposition has criticized President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for failing to deliver promised economic growth and for rising inequality and mounting debt, but the incumbent is still well-placed to win.
With the opposition especially focused on infrastructure borrowing from Beijing and on Indonesia's trade deficit with the country, it will seek to find a better deal if it wins.
But even if does capture next month's election, the opposition will not manage to diversify away from China in any substantial fashion.

On April 17, 190 million Indonesians will go to the polls for simultaneous presidential, parliamentary, provincial and local elections. The two presidential candidates, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and retired Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto also squared off in 2014 in an election in which Jokowi captured just over 53 percent of the vote. The 2019 vote will determine whether Jokowi returns for a second and final term through 2024. In parliament, the president's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) itself holds less than 20 percent of the parliament's seats, yet it leads a coalition accounting for nearly 69 percent of lawmakers. The coalition led by Prabowo's Gerindra party, by contrast, controls just a shade above 20 percent of the total. Ultimately, the fate of the election will rest on whether Jokowi succeeds in convincing voters to back his push for greater free trade and infrastructure spending or whether Prabowo sways them on...

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