While India has been acclimatising itself to a new government following the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Joko Widodo was announced as the new President of Indonesia on the July 22, 2014 after a hotly contested poll battle eerily similar to the one witnessed in India. How similar? Let’s begin with the protagonists. On the one hand we had General Prabowo Subianto, the son-in-law of former Indonesian President Suharto and on the other we had Joko Widodo, born in a slum in Central Java province of Indonesia. While Subianto’s dynastic connections are reminiscent of Rahul Gandhi, Joko Widodo’s likeness to Narendra Modi is even more striking. Like Modi who once worked as a tea vendor, Widodo’s humble origins led to him working as a carpenter in his father’s workshop as early as the age of 12.

Once elected mayor of Surakarta in 2005, Widodo, like Modi, embarked on a quest of development and is widely hailed for transforming the city during his consecutive spells in charge. His popularity with the common person saw him ascend even higher in his party’s ranks; becoming governor of Jakarta and then being announced Presidential Candidate of the PDI-P party on the back of a wave of popularity.
Widodo’s manner of victory in the election was also reminiscent of Modi’s. While Modi helped the BJP record an unprecedented tally of seats in Parliament, Widodo also rode to victory on the back of a mammoth 8 million vote difference between himself and General Subianto.

Unlike Modi’s victory which was decisive enough to silence any and all skeptics and send the Congress slinking into the shadows to lick their wounds, General Subianto has decided to play the role of spoil sport by claiming that results from 52,000 polling booths were fraudulent and has lodged a protest with the General Election Commission of Indonesia.

Experts though, state that even if Subianto’s allegations are proven to be true, it would not make a difference to the overall result. Thus making it all but certain that Joko Widodo will be sworn in on October 20, 2014 and will replace Bambang Yudhoyono to become Indonesia’s seventh President.

The problems he will face as President also echo the Modi government’s obstacles. Widodo will have to deal with a national fuel subsidy that is bleeding the national exchequer dry, rampant poverty, growing economic disparity and widespread corruption. While his opponents have called him an “unsophisticated, small-town politician who lacked the ability to lead a large nation”, the strong market rally on the announcement of his victory seems to indicate that the Indonesian business community have faith that Mr. Widodo is indeed the right man to lead Indonesia through these challenges.