海角大神

With exit polls pointing to a wider-than-expected margin of victory for Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo in today鈥檚 presidential election, his meteoric rise from small-town entrepreneur to Indonesia鈥檚 top job seems assured.

Victory over rival candidate Prabowo Subianto, who has refused to concede defeat, would give Mr. Widodo a mandate to enact far-reaching reforms in Southeast Asia鈥檚 largest economy, which has grown more slowly in recent months.

While official tallies are not due until聽July 20 at the earliest, several reliable survey groups have projected Widodo with a 5 percent or higher margin over Mr. Subianto. Radio Republik Indonesia said that with more than 99 percent of votes counted, its tally predicted Widodo had received 53 percent of votes versus 47 percent for Subianto.

Polling company Saiful Mujani Research reported a similar margin of victory for Widodo. Kompas newspaper projected the result as 52 percent for Widodo compared with 48 percent for his opponent.

Subianto, a former military general, claimed that he had a 鈥渕andate from the people鈥� based on internal polling. At his party headquarters in Jakarta, he hosted a victory celebration, and said he would wait for the final results.

A decade ago, Widodo was a political unknown. A carpenter and furniture salesman, he was elected in 2005 as major of Surakarta, a city in central Java, the most populous island in Indonesia, an archipelago. He burst onto the national stage with a startling upset win in 2012 to oust the incumbent governor of Jakarta. Both elections were direct votes for the executive position; since 2004, Indonesian presidents have also been selected by direct election.

Widodo, known as Jokowi, is expected to expand government services for the poor, strengthen the country鈥檚 corruption fighting agency, and overhaul the police, which is notorious for graft and inefficiency. He is also likely to try to reform the scandal-prone judiciary, after chief justice for the Constitutional Court, Akil Mochtar, was sentenced late last month聽to life in prison for accepting bribes.

鈥淛okowi is from the country鈥檚 roots,鈥� says Maman, a security guard in Jakarta, speaking after he cast his vote today. 鈥淗e鈥檚 of the people. That鈥檚 why I voted for him.鈥�

While the election was expected to be close, the projected margin of victory is roughly double what opinion polls had expected. The result gives Widodo the opportunity to woo over powerful political parties like Golkar, which had backed Subianto鈥檚 campaign.

Golkar, the political party of Indonesia鈥檚 former dictator Suharto, whose fall in 1998 led to a restoration of democracy, polled second in April鈥檚 parliamentary elections, behind Widodo鈥檚 Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Golkar鈥檚 91 seats would give Widodo鈥檚 coalition聽a majority in parliament. But allying with such a party would also raise doubts over how far Widido could go in uprooting systemic corruption and rent-seeking by politicians and officials.听听