Indonesian leader points to reelection victory

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Joko Widodo said on Thursday his reelection as head of the world’s third-biggest democracy was all but assured, calling for calm as his firebrand ex-general rival insisted he had in fact won the nation’s top job.

Widodo, 57, said he had received phone calls from world leaders to congratulate him on his country’s biggest-ever election, but added he would await the final results before formally declaring victory. He cited a series of so-called "quick counts" by pollsters, which are based on samples, that showed him as much as 11 percentage points ahead of Subianto.

Quick counts have been reliable indicators in past elections. But "we still have to wait for the numbers from the KPU (General Elections Commission)", Widodo told a crush of reporters.