Prabowo Subianto: What to expect from Indonesia's likely new president

JAKARTA — Indonesia has seen many faces of Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto over his decades in the public eye — the cheshire grin that accompanies his recent viral dance moves, flashes of his temper in fervent orations and the humiliation when he was dismissed from the military in 1998.

Now, it appears the latest portrait of Prabowo will be the one to be hung in government offices across the country as Indonesia's next president after he took a commanding lead in unofficial results from Wednesday's election and claimed victory.

After twice losing to Jokowi in 2014 and 2019, Prabowo, 72, has leaned into the deep popularity of Widodo-ism, even controversially naming the president's son as his running mate in the election to rule the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

On the campaign trail Prabowo has promised policy "continuity", but analysts say that is far from guaranteed.

"The key thing here is that Prabowo's alignment with Jokowi has very much been an electoral strategy, not necessarily a governing strategy," said Doug Ramage, of BowerGroupAsia.

"Make no mistake a President Prabowo would be his own president."

Yet the calculation millions have made is that Jokowi will continue to wield influence through his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, despite the vice president's office holding little power.

Differences in opinion over cabinet appointments, Indonesia's planned new capital, military and social service spending and the placement of family members in government could all lead to deteriorating relations, said political analyst Kevin O'Rourke.

"These are all things that are potential fissures between them because this arrangement, whereby the outgoing president expects continuity from his successor, is