JAKARTA: It will be a different kind of Valentine's Day in Indonesia tomorrow, with millions of people professing their love for their nation through the ballot box.
As President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo steps down after his two-term limit, the third largest democracy in the world will be vote for the next president-vice president pairing that will lead the country for the coming five years.
Indonesia's election process is highly complex, with major logistical challenges.
It is also billed as the world's biggest single-day election — with nearly 205 million voters, 800,000 polling stations, and over six million election workers.
Campaigning for the presidential election began on Nov 28. The three hopefuls competing for the leadership are former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, former general Prabowo Subianto, and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo.
In the three days leading up to polling day, the country has entered a "calm period" where campaigning is prohibited.
However, there has been several protests across the country, particularly over allegations polls interference by the outgoing president and the release of a two-hour documentary titled "Dirty Vote", causing a stir just days before polling day.
The protests, mostly by university students, had demanded that Jokowi remain neutral. His detractors claim that Jokowi had abused his power to sway voters in favour of frontrunner Prabowo, whose running mate is Jokowi's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Although Jokowi had not explicitly endorsed 72-year-old Prabowo, his appearances with the defence minister had been highly publicised.
He had also been accused of using government resources to boost Prabowo's candidacy.
Independent pollsters predict that the ex-general would get more than 50 per cent of votes — a first-round knockout for the former commando officer.
Observers worry Prabowo's expected win may degrade the country's democracy.
Jakarta Post editor-in-chief M. Taufiqurrahman described this presidential election as vastly different from the ones in the past.
"I think (Prabowo's win) will cause a decline in the quality of democracy. Just for the polls, the election law was amended just to allow for one individual (Gibran) to run as vice-president," he said when met yesterday.
The minimum age to stand for election as a presidential or vice-president was 40. The country's Constitutional Court amended the law, exempting any candidate who had served or are serving in elected public offices.
Gibran, 36, is also the mayor of Solo. The presidential office has denied any interference in the upcoming vote.
"Leading up to the balloting on Feb 14, there is also a massive social assistance programme, valued at 500 trillion rupiah. That is a lot of money, and never in history has the aid been this big.
"This is just one of the examples of using the country's resources to support one candidate.
"So, the worry from all of us is that the state resources, the bureaucracy, the police, and all the apparatus have been used to support just one candidate, simply because they are linked to the incumbent," said Taufiqurrahman.
Although many on social media have made clear their presidential choice, there are still others, especially those working and living in Jakarta, who are undecided.
"I have only one day left to think about it… I have not made up my mind," said a private sector worker, here.
"I'll just go with my feelings tomorrow," she added.
Prabowo is running for president for the third time, having lost to Jokowi in 2014 and 2019.
His "grandfatherly" image is a hit with the public, giving him a much softer portrayal than his previous campaigns.