Joko Widodo wins Indonesian presidential election

Jakarta, July 22 (IANS) Governor of Indonesia's capital city Jakarta Joko Widodo was Tuesday declared elected Indonesia's new president after the General Election Commission (KPU) settled the vote tally.

Making the official announcement on the winner of the presidential election, General Election Commission Chairman Husni Kamil Malik said Joko Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla had won the election by winning the majority of the votes, Xinhua reported.

According to a recounting of votes from 33 provinces across the country and polling booths in foreign countries held at the KPU building, Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla gained a total of 70,993,444 votes nationwide, or 53.15 percent of the total votes.

Their rivals Prabowo Subianto and running mate Hatta Radjasa secured a total of 62,576,444 votes, or 46.85 percent of the votes.

After the announcement of the result, Joko Widodo and his running mate would have to wait whether or not an appeal is filed by their rivals in Constitution Court (MK).

Earlier Tuesday, Prabowo and Hatta Tuesday announced their withdrawal from the election process alleging fraud in the July 9 election.

The pair ordered their team taking part in the vote recounting process being held in the General Election Commission (KPU) to walk out, rejecting any legal decision issued by the KPU related to the election, Xinhua reported.

The announcement was made in Prabowo's camp headquarters in the House of Polonia, East Jakarta, while the vote recounting process in the KPU was under way.

"We withdraw from the ongoing election process. We don't want to sacrifice the mandate given by the people," Prabowo said.

Prabowo said that his lawyer and election witnesses found that many frauds took place during the presidential election July 9 in several areas across the country.

He said that the KPU apparently defied recommendations issued by the Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) to hold re-polling in areas where the frauds allegedly took place.

"There are three days of ample time for a presidential candidate who is not satisfied with the vote tally results to file a complaint with the MK. Later on, the MK will process the complaint and eventually issue a final and binding decision that would be implemented by the KPU," Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), told Xinhua Tuesday.

The final decision may vary from annulling the victory of election's winner, or an order to hold revoting if the MK considers it necessary based on the complaint.

"If the MK annulled the complaint, Joko Widodo will go on to be installed as the nation's president Oct 20," Ikrar said.