Obama Congratulates Joko Widodo as Indonesia President-Elect

Jakarta (Antara) - US President Barack Obama congratulated Indonesia's President-elect Joko Widodo during a telephone conference a day after the country's Election Commission announced the winner of the 2014 presidential election on Tuesday (July 22). On Wednesday (July 23), President Obama called Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo to convey congratulations on behalf of his country for being elected as the next president of the Republic of Indonesia. In a press release from the US Embassy to Indonesia received here on Wednesday, Obama stated that through this free and fair election, the people of Indonesia have once again shown their commitment to democracy. The president reaffirmed that the United States deeply values the close and cooperative relationship with Indonesia, including the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, which has strengthened bilateral ties and facilitated deeper cooperation on common regional and global challenges. President Obama is looking forward to meeting Joko Widodo at the earliest opportunity and working with him to deepen the US-Indonesia partnership, expand ties between the people of the two nations, and promote the shared objectives in Asia and around the world. Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also had the opportunity to congratulate Joko Widodo during a telephonic conversation. The General Elections Commission in Jakarta announced the running presidential candidate pair, Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, as the elected president and vice president for the 2014-2019 term. According to the commission, the winning presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2014 election are Joko Widodo and Muhammad Jusuf Kalla who received 70,997,833 votes or 53.15 percent of the total valid votes. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the first to congratulate the newly elected president and vice president, Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla.(*)