Indonesia's election results should be respected by the White House, the US says.

The White House said it would accept the results of Indonesia's presidential election, which was won by Prabowo Subianto, a former army general who has been barred from entering the United States for more than a decade because of allegations of human rights abuses.

John KirbyMr. Kerry, national security and public affairs adviser, said during a White House briefing, "We will offer our congratulations at the appropriate time. I can't give an exact date or time because I understand the results are still coming in." "We will respect the voice and the choice of the people of Indonesia."

Preliminary counts by several polling agencies showed that Prabowo, like most Indonesians, outperformed his rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo with more than 50 percent of the vote, the threshold needed to avoid an election transition. Official results from the General Election Commission will be announced next month.

However, Prabowo claimed victory, telling thousands of his supporters in the capital Jakarta that it was "a victory for all Indonesians". In 2020, the Trump administration lifted an unofficial ban on Prabowo's entry to the United States, which was imposed because of allegations of human rights abuses, including kidnapping and torture of pro-democracy supporters during the overthrow of his then father-in-law, President Suharto, and involvement in war crimes in East Timor. Prabowo denies the allegations and has never been formally charged.

In response to VOA's question about whether the Biden administration is comfortable with Prabowo's record, Kirby emphasized that human rights are the "most fundamental" principle of Biden's foreign policy. "He doesn't have a single conversation with leaders of other nations where he doesn't raise issues and concerns about human rights and civil rights," he said. "That's not going to change."

Prabowo has promised to continue the widely popular policies of outgoing President Joko Widodo. Jokowi, as he is often called, brought to power an "economy first" modernization program that has delivered rapid GDP growth and turned Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, into a middle-income country.

Joko Widodo defeated Prabowo in previous elections but this year expressed support for his former rival through his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raki, 36, who ran with Prabowo for vice president. Gibran could only join Prabowo's team after the country's constitutional court made an exception to the rule that candidates must be at least 40 years old.

These concerns will be largely ignored by Washington, bearing in mind Indonesia's important role in the U.S. geopolitical struggle for influence with China and international efforts to mitigate climate change. Indonesia is the largest exporter of coal and has the largest reserves of nickel, a key component of electric car batteries.

"If the results show a Prabowo victory next month, I expect the U.S. to treat Minister Prabowo the same way it treated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his election in 2014, by lifting restrictions on contact with him," said Aaron Connelly, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Biden welcomed Modi during a high-profile visit to the White House last year. The president's commitment to the authoritarian Hindu nationalist, whose government has cracked down on press freedom and opposition leaders, has been criticized by lawmakers and activists who believe the administration is putting geopolitical expediency ahead of human rights.

As with India, which Washington sees as a counterweight to China, it is important for the United States to develop closer ties with Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim community in the world and an important voice of the Global South. Moscow and Washington are discussing a potential mineral partnership aimed at facilitating nickel trade. Indonesia's nickel industry is heavily dependent on Chinese companies and suffers from environmental concerns that limit its access to the U.S. market.