Dismissed from the military amid speculation of rights abuses, exiled in Jordan and once banned from the U.S., Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto is now poised to be the country’s next leader on his third try for the office.
Subianto has taken a commanding lead in unofficial results from Wednesday’s election in this country of 270 million people. There was no declaration from electoral officials and his opponents have not conceded.
Long a polarizing figure, the ex-special forces general’s presumed victory is the pinnacle of a triumphant rehabilitation decades in the making.
“This victory should be the victory for all Indonesians,” he said on Wednesday night. “We will assemble a government team consisting
