A three-way race for the presidency of Indonesia

Indonesia's presidential election will be held on February 14, with three candidates vying to lead Southeast Asia's largest economy and the world's third-largest democracy. Moving the archipelago's capital from Jakarta to Nusantara on the island of Borneo and fighting corruption are two key issues in President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's succession after a decade in power.
Prabowo Subianto
Subianto, 72, of the Coalition for an Advanced Indonesia, is the favorite in the race, with polls predicting he will win a majority. He is currently the defense minister after losing to Widodo in the 2014 and 2019 elections. With international experience, the defense chief is a retired military general who was fired in 1998 for allegedly ordering the kidnapping of dozens of pro-democracy activists during unrest after the fall of dictator Suharto. With the 36-year-old son of incumbent Jibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate, Subianto openly declared himself a continuation of the incumbent's policies. He promised to eradicate stunting in children due to malnutrition by offering free lunch to students. It has become one of his most popular agendas, and the slowdown in growth has fallen from 27.7 percent in 2019 to 21.6 percent in 2022. The defense chief also pledged to continue the ban on nickel ore exports , imposed by Widodo to increase national income from the mining sector and make Indonesia a developed nation. "In less than two years, our revenue increased 10-fold to $33.3 billion because of this," Subianto said during the campaign. He also changed his public persona to woo voters, using a clever social media strategy that promoted his dance videos. This transformed his image from a power figure to a "cute grandpa," as some users called him.
Anies Baswedan
Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan has positioned himself as an anti-establishment candidate in Indonesia's presidential campaign, climbing to second place in polls on a message that includes opposition to a costly move of the capital to Borneo. This line of attack has seen his stock rise and he is now in second place as Subianto's main rival. Baswedan, 54, was nominated by a coalition in which his National Democratic Party is supported by two Islamic parties. He is popular among conservative Muslims and Islamists in the Muslim country. Baswedan has repeatedly stated that democracy has suffered under Widodo.
The former education minister also opposes the idea of moving the capital to the island of Borneo. Baswedan favors pouring money into more than a dozen existing cities to promote economic equality, rather than developing a new capital from scratch. However, he previously caused controversy in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election when he ran against Christian candidate Basuki Tyahaja Purnama and was accused of inciting religious divisions.
Ganjar Pranovo
He parlayed his humble origins to emerge as Indonesia's leading incumbent candidate, but his campaign has ignited ahead of next week's election. A former two-term governor of Central Java, Pranovo was Subianto's main opponent after he was nominated as a candidate for a coalition led by Widodo's ruling Indonesia Democracy Party (PDI-P). Since then, Baswedan has overtaken him in the polls.
The silver-haired 55-year-old politician focuses on bread-and-butter issues, prioritizing access to health care, housing and food. He selected current Chief Security Minister Dr. Mahfoud as his vice president and made rooting out corruption high on his campaign agenda. Like Subianto, he vows to continue Widodo's policy of moving the capital.
Pranovo and Mahfoud are the only candidates who have experience in three branches of government: legislative, executive and judicial. He was initially seen as the front-runner for the presidential election but lost support over his opposition to Israel's participation in last year's FIFA U-20 World Cup, which Indonesia was supposed to host but lost its chances. /BGNES