Indonesian election 2024: What you need to know

On February 14, Indonesia is set to hold the world's largest single-day election. About 205 million people are eligible to vote for the country's next president, as well as executive and legislative representatives at all administrative levels across Indonesia.

Here are the key things you need to know:

Who is running?

Three candidates are vying for the presidency, including former Governor of East Java province Ganjar Pranowo, Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and Anies Baswedan, former governor of Jakarta.

Pranowo proposes to transform Indonesia into a leading maritime country by boosting the country's sea connectivity, marine industry and coastal tourism. He runs with Muhammad Mahfud, who just stepped down as the country's chief security minister this week to focus on the election.

He made global headlines for refusing to host the Israeli team in his province during the Under-20 FIFA World Cup in 2023. Indonesia was eventually dropped as the host, and Pranowo's ratings took a hit in the football-crazed country. The country, however, was later awarded the hosting rights of the FIFA U-17 World Cup the same year after Peru's withdrawal as hosts.

Subianto, 72, the current frontrunner in the race, aims for the presidency for the third time after losing to President Joko Widodo in 2014 and 2019. He runs with Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, the eldest son of Widodo.

The former army general has pledged to carry forward the political legacies of Widodo.

Baswedan is a progressive Muslim intellectual who has called for change and equality in the country. His running mate, Muhaimin Iskandar, is the chairman of the National Awakening Party, which has a strong historical connection with the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama.

The former Jakarta governor is known for opposing Widodo's plan to move Indonesia's capital from crowded Jakarta to a new capital, Nusantara. While the two other candidates voiced support for the development of the new capital.

"I'm serious about bringing changes to the economy to make Indonesia more equal in prosperity," Baswedan said in an interview with the Associated Press on January 14.

"I want to show that infrastructure development must be broader," he said when asked about people's worries that his stance could affect investor mood for the project.

How does the election work?

Since the 2009 general election, Indonesia has implemented an open proportional election system – voters directly vote for candidates for legislative members listed on their ballot papers.

Indonesian law states that a presidential candidate needs a simple majority, or more than 50 percent of the votes, to win, in addition to 20 percent of the votes in half of Indonesia's 38 provinces.

If no one meets the above conditions, the top two candidates will enter a run-off vote in June, with the third pair eliminated.

Recent surveys indicate that none of the candidates is set to exceed the required minimum of half the votes, with the Prabowo-Gibran pair hovering around the mid-40 percent mark.

A December 30 to January 6 survey showed the former general Subianto had the support of 45.8 percent of the 1,200 respondents, with 25.5 percent backing Baswedan, who moved into second place for the first time in Indikator's surveys.

The next president of Southeast Asia's largest economy will take office in October 2024.

Key factors

Social media platforms such as TikTok have been a battleground in the election as the presidential hopefuls vie to attract more young voters.

According to the General Elections Commission, there are 106 million Indonesians aged between 17 and 40, representing 52 percent of the total number of eligible voters in the country.

Pranowo has been active on TikTok since 2022 and has 7.5 million followers so far. Baswedan has just joined the hype on TikTok since the end of December last year, but has attracted more than 1.8 million followers.

As of May 2023, Indonesia had 113 million TikTok accounts, making the country the second-largest contributor of TikTok users worldwide behind the U.S.

Meanwhile, Subianto has been creating an online persona using artificial intelligence-generated artwork, transforming the military figure known for giving fiery speeches into a child-like grandpa, CNA reported.

Winning votes from the younger generation is key to victory, analysts say.

"With a minimum ideological base, the youth are clearly part of swing voters. This is especially true for first-time voters with no prior (voting) experience," Edbert Gani Suryahudaya, a political researcher at Indonesia's think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told the Straits Times.