The 2019 Indonesian Elections: An Overview

Abstract

Before offering an initial interpretation of this outcome, it is necessary to briefly review the nature of the presidential campaigns, operating at three levels, and which framed the elections as a whole. One level was the nationally televised debates and associated discourse. There was a rhetorical contestation regarding the state of the nation. Widodo’s campaign emphasised an “optimistic” – a word used by Widodo again and again – assessment of national development, downplaying or denying any negative phenomenon raised by Prabowo or other critics of the government. Widodo sought the opportunity to explicitly chastise Prabowo for being “pessimistic” about Indonesia’s future. Widodo therefore offered a continuation of current programmes, with some expansion of social safety net provisions, such as an unemployment benefit.