The world’s largest single-day election is about to take place on Feb. 14, 2024.

Nearly 205 million people in Southeast Asia's largest and the world's third-largest democracy, Indonesia, will go to the polls to choose their next president.

Indonesians will not only be choosing a new president, but a new vice president, and also parliamentary and local representatives.

After 10 years in office, the incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will step down in October 2024 due to Indonesia's two-term limit.

Vying to take Jokowi's place are: A reformer of education, Anies Baswedan, a military leader-turned-cute grandpa, Prabowo Subianto, and man-of-the-people Ganjar Pranowo.

Before Feb. 14, here's the low-down on who's who.

1) Anies Baswedan, 54

Anies was born on May 7, 1969 in Kuningan, West Java and hails from an academic lineage, with both parents in academia.

He met his wife Fery Farhati Ganis at Gadjah Mada University, where they were both studying, and the couple have four children together.

After completing his PhD in political science in the United States, Anies returned to Indonesia and at age 38, became Indonesia's youngest rector at the Islamic University of Paramadina in 2007.

He rose to national prominence for kickstarting the Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaching Foundation) in 2009, sending university students on one-year teaching missions across the far-flung corners of Indonesia.

Anies' foray into national politics started in 2013 when he became Jokowi's campaign spokesperson during the 2014 Indonesia presidential election.

After Jokowi won, Anies became Indonesia's education and culture minister for 20 months until Jokowi removed him from the role in 2016.

Anies, backed by conservative Muslim groups, was accused of using religious identity politics during the controversial 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, when he won against the incumbent Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.

Ahok, an ethnic Chinese Christian, was subsequently convicted of blasphemy for citing the Quran during a campaign speech and jailed for two years.

Anies completed his five-year term as Jakarta governor in 2022. Now 54, he is running as an independent candidate in the election.

While he has ties with conservative Muslims and the endorsement of hardline Islamic leaders, Anies hopes to court to moderate Muslims by way of running mate Muhaimin Iskandar.

Muhaimin is the chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Indonesia's largest Muslim political party. PKB has strong ties with Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama.

@mothershipsg A guide to Indonesia's presidential candidates: Anies Baswedan. The former governor of Jakarta will stand in the general elections on Feb. 14, 2024 as an independent candidate backed by Coalition of Change for Unity (KPP). #tiktoksg #indonesia #sgnews ♬ original sound - Mothership

2) Prabowo Subianto, 72

Prabowo was born on Oct. 17, 1951 in Jakarta, Indonesia to one of the country's most powerful families.

His grandfather was the founder of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and the first head of the Supreme Advisory Council, an advisory council for the President of Indonesia, while his father was one of the country's most influential economists and held three ministerial posts under Presidents Sukarno and Suharto.

Prabowo's father fled the country and went into political exile after falling out with Sukarno. As a result, Prabowo spent his childhood overseas and is fluent in Bahasa, French, German, English and Dutch.

Prabowo and his family returned to Indonesia after Suharto ousted Sukarno. On his father's encouragement, Prabowo enrolled in Indonesia's Military Academy in 1970 and joined the elite Kopassus unit in Indonesia's military after he graduated in 1974.

He married Siti Hediati Hariyadi, the late President Suharto's second daughter also known as Titiek Suharto, in 1983 and the couple had a son before splitting up in 1998.

1998 also marked the rise and fall of Prabowo's 28-year military career.

The Kopassus' Lieutenant General was appointed head of the 27,000-strong Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) in March before he was discharged from the military in August for his alleged involvement in the kidnappings of more than 20 pro-democracy activists.

Prabowo, who was never charged, went into self-exile in Jordan for a few years before returning to Indonesia.

He would eventually set up the Gerindra Party in early 2008 and become President Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri's running mate in 2009.

Prabowo was unsuccessful in 2009, and twice more when he ran for presidency in 2014 and 2019 against Jokowi.

Prabowo disputed the 2014 and 2019 results, but relented after Jokowi brought him into the fold, making him defence minister in 2019.

Nominated by the Gerindra Party, Prabowo is running for the position of president once more with Jokowi's eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his running mate.

While Prabowo is the oldest candidate of the three at 72, he has used it to his advantage, rebranding himself on social media as a harmless, gemoy (cuddly) grandpa, in hopes of putting his controversial past behind him.

@mothershipsg A guide to Indonesia's presidential candidates: Prabowo Subianto. The former general will stand in the general elections on Feb. 14, 2024 as the candidate for the Gerindra party. #tiktokindonesia #worldnews #tiktoksg #sgnews ♬ original sound - Mothership

3) Ganjar Pranowo, 55

Ganjar was born on Oct. 28, 1968 on the slopes in Karanganyar, Central Java.

Unlike his two rivals, Ganjar lacks ties to elite families or the military. His father was a policeman while his mother was a homemaker who set up a grocery shop, worked as a seamstress and sold gasoline by the road when the family fell on hard times.

He met his wife Siti Atiqoh Supriyanti while studying at the Faculty of Law at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), and the couple married in 1999. They have a son together.

Ganjar officially joined politics in 2004 as Jakarta's national legislator. Due to his gift of speaking to the public and media, Ganjar quickly rose through the political ranks.

After nearly a decade in the Indonesian House of Representatives, he was elected as the governor of Central Java in 2013, where he served for two terms until 2023.

While governor, Ganjar introduced populist policies which saw Central Java's monetary poverty rate fall from 14.5 per cent in 2013 to 10.7 per cent in September 2023.

Despite his lack of political and military ties, Ganjar received immense support from ordinary folk and was seen as Indonesia's rising star, topping opinion polls as the frontrunner for the 2024 Indonesia presidential election up until April 2023, when he came neck and neck with Prabowo.

Around that same time, Ganjar had opposed allowing Israel to participate in the Under-20 FIFA World Cup that was to be held in his province.

FIFA eventually dropped Indonesia as the host and as a result, sparked a backlash against Ganjar.

Ganjar's popularity plummeted further when Prabowo announced Gibran as his running mate, and when Jokowi appeared to distance himself from his own party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), effectively putting space between himself and Ganjar, who is PDI-P's nominated presidential candidate.

Now, Ganjar is banking on his humble origins and man-of-the-people persona to woo voters into electing him and his running mate, the recently resigned coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, Mahfud MD.

@mothershipsg A guide to Indonesia's presidential candidates: Ganjar Pranowo. The former governor of Central Java will stand in the general elections on Feb. 14, 2024 as the candidate for the PDI-P party. #indonesia #tiktoksg #sgnews #LearnOnTikTok ♬ original sound - Mothership

Prabowo-Gibran leading polls

Prabowo is projected to secure over 50 per cent of the vote, according to an opinion survey published on Feb. 10, 2024 and reported by Reuters.

In Indonesia, a presidential candidate needs more than 50 per cent of votes cast overall and at least 20 per cent of votes in more than half the country's provinces to win.

The survey, which was conducted between Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 and consisted of 1,220 respondents, projected that Prabowo will secure 51.9 per cent of the votes.

The survey also saw Anies and Ganjar gaining 23.3 per cent and 20.3 per cent of the votes respectively.

What to know about the election

While unofficial results will be released within 24 hours of the polling day on Feb. 14, the finalised results will only be announced 35 days later, at the earliest.

If no candidate achieves more than 50 per cent of votes cast overall, a run-off presidential election will be held in June between the two candidates with the most votes.

The next president will take office in October.

Follow our 2024 Indonesia presidential election coverage

@mothershipsgIndonesia’s presidential election will take place in February. How will each candidate approach relations with Singapore? An expert explains.♬ original sound - Mothership

@mothershipsg The use of social media may prove pivotal in shaping Indonesia's Feb. 14 presidential election. But how influential is it, really? We asked Dr Leonard Sebastian of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies to weigh in. #indonesia🇮🇩 #indonesiaelection2024 #tiktokindonesia ♬ original sound - Mothership

Top image from @aniesbaswedan, @prabowo and @erwinbangkitp123_real/Instagram