Updated April 12, 2018 16:25:32

Photo: Prabowo Subianto (R) is the biggest threat to President Joko Widodo's chances of winning a second term. (Reuters: Antara Foto)

Controversial former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto has accepted his party's nomination to run for president in next year's Indonesian elections.

Mr Prabowo accepted the Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement Party) nomination last night and celebrated by ripping off his shirt to the cheers of ecstatic party supporters.

"I accept this decision as a duty, a mandate, an order and I am ready to do it," he told the crowd.

The 66-year-old former lieutenant general was a special forces commander who has been connected to alleged human rights abuses during bloody military operations in Timor-Leste, formerly known as East Timor, and Papua as well as in Jakarta in 1998.

Mr Prabowo denies any involvement in massacres of independence supporters in Timor-Leste during the 1980s.

Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights tried to question him over the abduction, torture and murder of pro-democracy activists in 1998 at the end of the Suharto regime, but Mr Prabowo went instead into self-imposed exile in Jordan.

He has denied that allegation as well as claims that he encouraged rioting that led to widespread killing and rapes in the Indonesian capital.

Mr Prabowo was a three star general in 1998 and was married to President Suharto's daughter.

Photo: Prabowo Subianto (L) is pictured during his time as a special forces commander in 1998. (Reuters: Supri Supri)

Mr Prabowo is also allegedly one of the figures behind huge protests in Jakarta against the city's Christian Chinese governor Ahok.

His party's support was crucial to the success of Ahok's conservative rival, Anies Baswedan, in the city's gubernatorial elections.

Ahok was accused of blasphemy for comments made during the election campaign and was eventually sentenced to two years in jail.

Mr Prabowo and Gerindra are closely aligned with conservative religious groups that are rapidly gaining more influence in Indonesia.

Mr Prabowo has stood before as a presidential candidate. He was defeated by Joko Widodo in 2014 but remains the biggest threat to the President's chances of winning a second term next year.

Photo: Mr Prabowo previously ran against President Joko Widodo in 2014. (Reuters/Beawiharta)

Topics: world-politics, elections, indonesia

First posted April 12, 2018 16:14:35