Come April 17, 192 million Indonesians will throng poll booths to elect a new president. Reformist President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, is from the nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (PDI-P). His opponent is a former soldier and leader of opposition party Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Prabowo Subianto. In opinion polls two weeks before the elections, current President Joko Widodo and his ruling coalition maintain a large lead over the rival camp.
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Jokowi, a former furniture seller, has earned reputation as Indonesia's Obama. Jokowi appeared on the national scene just two years before he won presidential elections in 2014. Widodo leads 13 and 20 percentage points ahead of Subianto according to four nationwide surveys conducted in the second half of March, though undecided voters are as high as 20%.
Prabowo is considered as Indonesian elite. He is a former military general and married the daughter of the second president of Indonesia Suharto. His campaign has been ultra nationalistic and focused on its large area rich in natural resources. Other issues he has been highlighting are poverty and malnutrition in children under 5 that causes long-term physical and mental impairment.
Jokowi too has been campaigning using nationalistic themes. Also, the Jokowi regime has been able to show progress in the issues Prabowo is pointing to as crises.
Two-thirds of Indonesians as of 2018 said that the economy was doing well in comparison with before Widodo was elected in 2014. Neither of the leaders have so far used religion in their election campaigns, though this was expected in a predominantly Muslim nation. Analysts speculate that Prabowo's main intention of running for president might be maximising his party, Gerindra's reach in the parliament and retain influence on the government.
Jokowi seems to have retained popularity owing to the progress he made in the infrastructure segment. He batted for foreign investment and succeeded.