A news report explaining how Indonesia would hold a second round of voting if presidential candidates in the February 2024 poll are unable to secure an outright majority has been viewed millions of times in social media posts that misleadingly claim a runoff vote is going ahead. It was shared days after the election that official tallies suggest Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto is on course to win by a wide margin. As of February 24, 2024, the country’s election authority has not decided whether a runoff election is needed.
“HURRAYYY, THERE WILL BE SECOND ROUND,” reads part of the Indonesian-language caption of an Instagram post shared on February 17, 2024. “Wait for the date of the runoff election.”
The post uploaded a video, which has been viewed more than 2.9 million times.
It shows a news anchor presenting a segment about a potential second round of voting for the president — a requirement when none of the candidates are able to secure 50 percent of the vote (archived link).
Above the video is a “Breaking News” banner, and below it is an image of presidential candidate Anies Baswedan next to his running mate Amin Muhaimin.
The post was shared days after nationwide elections in the world’s third-largest democracy on February 14, 2024.
According to an official tally on the Indonesia Election Commission (KPU) website, Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto appears on course to win the race by a wide margin, with more than 75 percent of votes counted.
Prabowo had amassed more than 58 percent of the vote, as shown by the KPU’s latest count from February 22, 2024, published on its website.
The news segment was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Instagram, as well as on other social media platforms Facebook, TikTok, SnackVideo and X.
Comments show that many social media users are misled by the claim. One Instagram user says, “Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], second round of election for presidential poll. Anies Baswedan for 2024 president”.
A TikTok user says, “Oh God, make Anies as the leader of this country. aamiin.”
But the news report was aired before the February 14 poll and discusses a second round of voting in hypothetical terms.
iNews explainer
In the top-left corner of the video, there is a logo for iNews, an Indonesian news outlet. A subsequent keyword search of iNews’ official YouTube channel found the original report published here on February 13, 2024 — a day before the election was held (archived link).
The video is titled, “Anticipating the second round of the presidential election, here is the schedule and scheme .”
The anchor in the video begins the report by saying, “Simultaneous elections will be held tomorrow, on February 14, 2024. To anticipate the possibility of two rounds of presidential elections. The KPU has created the stages and implementation of the 2024 elections …”
In the video uploaded on the false posts, the first sentence said by the anchor was omitted.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the original video from iNews (right):
Arrangements for a second round of voting are planned by the KPU, based on the commission’s guidelines from June 2022 (archived link).
These arrangements are accurately reported in the iNews explainer.
Other local media, such as Kompas.com and Tempo.co, also reported on the KPU’s plans if a runoff vote was needed (archived links here and here).
KPU commissioner Idham Holik refuted the misleading claim, emphasising that a decision “must be based on the final result of the voting”.
“Please wait for the result of the voting recapitulation at the national level held by the KPU,” he told AFP on February 20, 2024. “Quick count is not an official recapitulation.”
The nationwide vote recapitulation for the 2024 elections is scheduled to take place from February 15 to March 20, 2024 (tautan arsip).
As of February 24, 2024, KPU has not made any announcement on the need for a runoff vote.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about Indonesia’s 2024 elections here.
Signup bonus from
