Prabowo Subianto will be Indonesia’s next president

HOW HE HAS waited. In 1998, after the fall of Suharto, the dictator who ruled Indonesia for 32 years, Prabowo Subianto, his then son-in-law, manoeuvred to take over—unsuccessfully. In 2014 and again in 2019, Mr Prabowo ran to become president of what had by then become the world’s third-largest democracy. Both times he lost to Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi (and both times he falsely claimed the election had been stolen). But as voting closed on February 14th there remained no doubt that Mr Prabowo had at last clinched his prize: with reliable pollsters showing he had won nearly 60% of the vote in the first round, he will be Indonesia’s next leader.

Mr Prabowo is a controversial former general with a worrying history who has rebranded himself as a cuddly grandad. His victory casts a shadow over one of Asia’s democratic bright spots. Though Indonesia’s democracy is flawed, many Indonesians cherish their suffrage in a neighbourhood dominated by juntas and autocrats. But prominent Indonesian academics, activists and journalists have labelled this election the most undemocratic since the start of reformasi, an era of rapid democratic development after Suharto’s fall.