Video shows Prabowo challenging results of Indonesia's 2014 election, not 2024 poll

Published on February 29, 2024 at 10:22
3 min read
By Tria DIANTI, AFP Indonesia

A nearly decade-old video of Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto alleging the 2014 election was "full of fraud" has resurfaced in posts viewed hundreds of thousands of times that falsely claimed he was speaking about the most recent race in February 2024. Final results are due in March 2024, but preliminary official tallies from the election watchdog has the presidential frontrunner on course to win by a wide margin. While his rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, have alleged there was fraud in the vote, Prabowo has not.

"Prabowo admits that this election was a failed election and full of fraud," reads Indonesian-language text overlaid on a TikTok video posted on February 21, 2024.

Text below the video, which has been viewed more than 133,000 times, reads: "People need leaders who can bring prosperity.”

In the one-minute, 39-second video, Prabowo delivers a statement while sitting at a desk.

"In the last presidential election, it turns out that we found too much fraud, too massive, too systematic," he says, before describing the election as "failed" and "illegitimate".

“If we approve this decision, we are condoning lies," Prabowo concludes.

Screenshot of the false post, taken on February 29, 2024

The footage was viewed more than 557,000 times after it was shared with a similar claim elsewhere on TikTok here and here, as well as on YouTube here.

It also appeared on social media platform X here, where it was reshared more than 430 times.

It was shared days after tens of millions of Indonesians went to the polls on February 14, 2024, in one of the world's biggest one-day elections.

Although final official results are not due until March, preliminary tallies on the election commission's website from February 29 show the former general with a commanding lead over rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo.

Anies and Ganjar have said, without yet providing evidence, that their camps had found "systematic" fraud in the vote and "the deficiencies are various".

But as of February 29, Prabowo has not made any allegations of fraud in the election.

Challenge to 2014 result

A keyword search on Google found the video was published on Prabowo's official YouTube channel nearly 10 years earlier on July 25, 2014 (archived link).

The footage is titled "Prabowo’s video message | 25 July 2014".

The section of the video where Prabowo discusses the alleged election fraud starts at its 6:21 mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original video shared on Prabowo’s YouTube channel (right):

Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original video shared on Prabowo’s YouTube channel (right)

It was also shared on his Facebook page on the same day, with a similar title (archived link).

The message was published days after Indonesia's election commission declared the then-governor of Jakarta, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, as the winner of the 2014 presidential race (archived link).

Prabowo alleged there had been widespread electoral fraud and challenged the result at the country's Constitutional Court. But the court dismissed Prabowo's challenge on August 21, 2014, sealing victory for Jokowi.

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to Indonesia's 2024 elections here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail