Election friction

820,000 polling stations. 17,000 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited. 204 million registered voters. 3,200 miles of territory. And 20,000 national, provincialConcerning the regions of a country outside the capital, often used to mean narrow-minded or unsophisticated. and district parliamentary representatives.

It is the largest and most complex single-day election in the world. Millions of people across IndonesiaA country in south-east Asia, made up of over 17,000 islands.'s three time zones went to the polls this week to vote for their future president. 

The country has high turnoutsThe number of people who take part in an event, particularly an election. on election day, which marks a national holiday known as Pesta Demokrasi, celebrating the right to vote. Ballot boxes were delivered across the country by boat, helicopter, ox-drawn carts and even on foot to the country's population of over 279 million people.

It is a momentous moment. Indonesia sheddedGot rid of. its long and vicious history of authoritarianEnforcing strict obedience to authority. rule just 26 years ago and has since become one of the world's most vibrant democracies.

But it is by no means a typical democracy. Young people made up more than 50% of eligible voters this year. And in a bid to win the youth vote, candidates have embraced Gen ZShort for Generation Z, meaning people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s. culture, giving away tickets to K-popShort for Korean pop. Pop music originating from South Korea. concerts and posting cat memes and viral dances on platforms like TikTok. Some say it was an election fought on social media.

But others think that the candidates have focused too much on style over substance. Surveys have shown that the top concerns for Gen Z and millennial voters are the high cost of living, limited job opportunities, environmental degradationThe process of wearing something down or making it worse. and corruption.¹

With youth unemployment at record highs, young Indonesians have carefully scrutinised their candidates' economic policies.²

The official election result cannot be expected for a few weeks yet, but pollsters predict that Indonesia's defence minister, Prabowo Subianto, has scored an impressive 59% of the votes. His rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, are thought to have earned 24.7% and 16.2% respectively.

Prabowo has been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses throughout his tenure, with many fearing that his victory could prompt a regression into Indonesia's authoritarian past.

For some, Prabowo's popularity is a puzzle. Dismissed from the military due to allegations that he was involved in kidnapping and torturing pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998, he has since been accused of human rights abuses in Papua and East Timor.

And he has not always been regarded as trustworthy. Prabowo has lost two successiveOne after the other. presidential elections in the past decade. Many were reluctant to cast their vote for the son-in-law of Indonesia's last ever military dictator, Suharto, who led Indonesia as an authoritarian regime for 32 brutal years before being toppled by nationwide unrest.

But despite this, the 72-year-old appeared triumphant on Wednesday in a stadium in the country's capital, Jakarta, telling thousands of his supporters that his seeming win is "the victory of all Indonesians".³

The significance of this moment should not be underestimated. Indonesia is the world's third-largest democracy - after India and the US - and south-East Asia's biggest economy.⁴ It casts a long shadow.

And some worry that the election will expose the country's deep social and political fault lines. There have already been accusations of electoral corruption and fraud levelled at the country's incumbentThe person already in a position. president, JokowiThe popular name of Joko Widodo, who was elected as president of Indonesia in 2014.. Levels of public trust in the country's political system are falling rapidly.⁵

Will the youth vote win?

Yes: Prabowo has been characterised as a "cuddly grandpa" among Indonesia's youth. He is very popular and will have won a majority of the youth vote. Whether we should celebrate this is another question entirely.

No: Some have said that the campaign for the youth vote has been "gimmicky". Young voters are not looking for gimmickA publicity stunt to attract attention., but for substance.

Or... Indonesia's voters are not so much divided by age, but by social and geographical background. Although the candidates have courted young voters, they do not have a clear consensus.