Jakarta. Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto adds more than 1 million Instagram followers to his official account following the third debate of the 2024 Presidential Election on Sunday.

According to the Director of the PoliEco Digital Insight Institute (Pedas), Anthony Leong, Prabowo gained a substantial rise from 7.1 million on Sunday to 8.3 million Instagram followers as of Friday. 

"We can see that Prabowo's followers on Instagram have increased from 7.1 million to 8.3 million today. This is due to positive public empathy (after the third presidential debate in 2024)," said Anthony during an interview in South Jakarta on Thursday.

The surge in followers on the social media platform implies that Prabowo's communication style resonates well with potential voters. Anthony said the leader of the Gerindra Party has adeptly sidestepped responding to comments and provocations from fellow candidates during the presidential debate.

Anthony believes that Prabowo's persona provides a fresh perspective for the public, especially in responding to various questions during the debate, and can influence actual voting outcomes. The views and ideas presented by Prabowo create strong empathy and lasting impressions leading up to election day. 

"We see this as a very organic movement; the public is smart. Hopefully, this will also enlighten everyone. The presidential debate should not be a platform for personal attacks but rather an avenue to criticize ideas, concepts, and works," commented Anthony.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo even expressed disappointment regarding the third presidential debate, saying that it deviated from discussing crucial issues and instead turned into a platform for personal attacks among the candidates. 

"The engagements derailed from the substantial topics and visions of the candidates. Instead, personal attacks dominated, straying away from discussions on international relations, geopolitics, and defense -- the core themes," Jokowi said. "I believe many people share my disappointment."

While the president refrained from mentioning names, the debate saw Anies initiate a direct attack on Prabowo in his opening statement. Anies accused Prabowo, the current defense minister, of owning 340,000 hectares of land while many soldiers reside in rented homes. 
 

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