Crowds swelled in central Jakarta on Wednesday morning and police said they expected more protesters to join them before nightfall. Hundreds of students also protested peacefully in the city of Medan, in the north of the island of Sumatra, demanding an investigation into alleged election cheating, TVOne reported. Mr Widodo won more than 85 million votes of 154 million cast in the world’s third-largest democracy, but retired general Mr Prabowo has alleged “massive cheating and irregularities”. Mr Prabowo also launched a legal challenge after he was defeated in the 2014 election by Mr Widodo, which was rejected. Islamist groups, many of which support Mr Prabowo, have in the past been able to mobilise hundreds of thousands of supporters.

Source: The Irish Times May 22, 2019 08:26 UTC