You saw the early returns, right?
"Candidate alleges election fraud in Indonesia presidential election" Associated Press July 19, 2014
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto asserted Friday there had ‘‘been quite massive incidences’’ of fraud in general elections, which he said might prevent him from winning the most divisive polls in the fragile democracy’s history.
Translation: the vote margin was so large he couldn't steal it outright, and now he is screaming stolen election.
The Suharto-era general has been claiming to be ahead in the vote count; the official results will be announced next week.
But in an interview with the Associated Press, Subianto for the first time suggested that he might lose to his challenger, former Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, because of voting fraud.
Several reputable organizations have carried out a ‘‘quick count’’ of a sample of the votes that show Widodo with a small but decisive lead. The quick counts have accurately forecast past regional and national elections in Indonesia and independent analysts say there is no reason to think otherwise this time.
Buuuuut....
Subianto’s insistence that he was on course for victory, and his allegations of fraud, have led to speculation in some quarters that the super rich candidate might be trying to fix the results or will refuse to concede.
And Indonesia will then be thrown into crisis.
How many failed and flop governments can the U.S. State Department and John Kerry juggle? Indonesia a huge chunk and crucial to U.S. policy in Asia via China.
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