An election festival for supporters of the Indonesian Change Alliance candidate Anies Baswedan (Anatolia)

Jakarta -

 Anies Baswedan, candidate for the Alliance for Change for Unity in Indonesia, said that his movement, which he led for the past months and participated in the elections held on Wednesday, created a different atmosphere during the election campaign period.

He stressed that the goals of the Change Movement are not limited to elections, indicating that he feels that the great responsibility placed on him and on the Change Movement is to advance democracy to be based on morals, and to open areas for dialogue, presenting ideas, and exchanging them in society.

While the Indonesian Election Commission has not yet completed the counting of votes, there is controversy in political, legal and media circles over the results of unofficial polls of Indonesian voters’ attitudes, which showed a lead for the Progress Indonesia candidate and current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, along with Gipran Rakabuming Raka, the vice-presidential candidate, who is the son of current President Jokowi. , with percentages ranging between 56% and 58% of the votes.

These unofficial polls estimated that Anis Baswedan received between 24% and 26% of the votes.

Baswedan said in his statements that he noticed a wave of what he described as fighters for democracy, who carry ideas for the future of Indonesia that go beyond the presidential competition. He added that he will seek to continue the movement seeking change, and will remain active in it and will not deviate from it in any other direction, and that what he described as the struggle for democracy has not ended. After, he said.

Regarding the initial unofficial or official indicators of the election results, Baswedan commented by saying that the process of counting and counting the votes has not ended, and his coalition will follow the progress of the process, stressing that he is “a true democrat who will respect the election results issued by the legitimate Election Commission” in this regard and respect the people’s choice.

He pointed out that the teams of observers from the parties in the Change Alliance will continue to monitor the progress of the sorting and counting work, which will continue for about a month, noting that opinion polls of voters when they leave the polling stations may not truly reflect their opinions, according to his estimate.

Anis Baswedan, Change Alliance candidate for the presidential elections in Indonesia (Al Jazeera)

Expansion of change

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Anis Baswedan said that he remains hopeful that the elections will be “just, fair and clean so that society feels reassured and peaceful and obtains a credible government,” adding that “the desire for change is expanding, not only for the sake of the livelihood of the citizen and his family in terms of job opportunities and the level of... Better living and the availability of education, but there is also an effort for change regarding life at the state level, its political aspect and democracy.”

Baswedan said that a year ago, there was limited response to the discourse of change, at its beginning, among groups with a certain economic level, while there was a desire among the elites for the continuation of the status quo, and the developments that occurred in the Constitutional Court led many to believe that there must be change in The country's democracy, according to his opinion.

He added, "Here, the ideas of democracy have expanded to many groups, and this is what makes us optimistic, because those who agree to the idea of ​​change are distributed among all groups of society in terms of economic level."

In response to a question regarding the concern of academics and human rights activists about problems or suspicions of tampering that may mar the electoral process at any of its stages, including during the counting and sorting stage, Baswedan said, “We have to watch, as the indicators of that exist, and this is what made lawyers, students, and university graduates raise their voices because they Notice these indicators.”

He stressed that the Change Alliance has a team that monitors and collects data from about 823,000 polling centers for approximately 205 million voters, noting that the team will compare what appears in the Election Commission system with the data they collect.

The future of the opposition coalition

There is talk in media and political circles about the future of the Indonesian opposition if it is confirmed that the Change Alliance candidate, Anis Baswedan, does not win, along with the candidate for vice president, Abdul Muhaymin Iskandar, leader of the National Renaissance Party, especially since Baswedan is not a member or leader of any of the parties he is allied with.

In this regard, questions were raised about Baswedan’s fate if he did not win. Will he join one of the coalition parties or establish an independent social movement that will coordinate with the opposition parties until a future due date?

It is noteworthy that the Change Alliance includes the Islamist-leaning Justice and Welfare Party, which remained in opposition during the reign of current President Jokowi, but was involved in ministries during the decade in power of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-2014), and in previous governments before that, in addition to the Renaissance Party. Al-Watan, which is the most important political front for the Nahdlatul Ulama Society, and the National Democratic Party of its leader Surya Balu, who was part of President Jokowi’s ruling coalition but chose a different path, and a fourth newly founded party, the Umma Party. Initial indications show that it will not exceed the electoral threshold of 4%.

It is also not yet confirmed in terms of political positions which of these parties will remain on the side of the opposition if Anies Baswedan does not win the presidency, and whether one of them will accept to join the coalition government led by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto if he wins.

Anis Baswedan in an election meeting with his supporters (Al Jazeera)

Where is the struggle party headed?

In a related context, media and political questions began to be raised in Indonesia about the future of the Struggle for Democracy Party led by former President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

It appears that his presidential candidate is the least fortunate in this electoral race, namely the Governor of Central Java, Gangjar Branwo, with unofficial polls obtaining between 15% and 17% of the votes. The Struggle Party has continued to lead the ruling coalition of current President Jokowi and has a number of ministers so far, despite the disagreement between the party and President Jokowi over presidential nominations.

Hasto Cristianto, Secretary-General of the Party of Struggle for Democracy - whose partial preliminary results show that it is at the forefront of the parties in terms of seats in the central parliament so far - indicated in a written statement on Thursday that his party is ready to play the role of the opposition or the active party outside the government, according to Saying it.

Christianto referred to his party's experience in playing this role between 2004 and 2014, recalling what he described as positions that received popular appreciation in defending citizens' rights and improving democratic performance.

Source: Al Jazeera