Voters flock to final rallies in Indonesia as overseas voting begins

50 per cent threshold. In a survey by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia, carried out from Jan 28 to Feb 4 and released on Feb 9, Mr Prabowo received 51.8 percent of the vote from respondents, followed by Mr Anies with 24.1 percent and Mr Ganjar with 19.6 percent.

In another poll by the Indonesia Survey Institute released on Feb 10, Mr Prabowo received 51.9 percent support, followed by Mr Anies with 23.3 percent and Mr Ganjar with 20.3 percent.

Mr Prabowo is running on the same ticket as Mr Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the Mayor of Solo and son of the popular outgoing President Joko Widodo, who defeated Mr Prabowo twice in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Two major issues hotly debated for months were over Mr Gibran's candidacy and the President's lack of neutrality.

In the crucial final weeks of campaigning, Mr Widodo has made not-so-subtle moves to endorse Mr Prabowo without openly saying so.

He visited Central Java, one of the hot election battlegrounds, where he and Mr Prabowo made a show of having meatball soup together at a street stall. Days earlier, he also proclaimed that sitting presidents were allowed by law to pick sides in presidential elections.

The Constitutional Court ruled controversially in October 2023 that the minimum age of 40 for Indonesia's presidential and vicepresidential candidates did not apply to anyone who is an elected regional leader, thereby allowing Mr Gibran, 36, to contest the election.

The Chief Justice, who is Mr Gibran's uncle, was subsequently removed by an ethics panel for failing to recuse himself and for making last-minute changes to election candidacy requirements.

On Feb 10, in lively scenes that resembled mega music concerts, the candidates danced, belted out punchy slogans and pleaded for support at their last rallies.

The Prabowo-Gibran camp has been aggressively pushing for a single-round election, through speeches and posters spread across the country saying, "All in Prabowo-Gibran in One Round" and "Gaspol One Round". Gaspol is local slang for "to go full throttle".