Indonesia Election: Over 200 Million Indonesians Vote To Elect New President Replacing Jokowi

Indonesia on Wednesday began its elections as over 200 million Indonesians cast their votes in the world's biggest single-day polling. Nearly 259,000 candidates are contesting for 20,600 posts that will determine the successor of outgoing President Joko Widodo and determine who takes the helm of the third-largest democracy.

There are 18 national political parties across Indonesia, with 575 parliamentary seats up for grabs. The incumbent Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, popularly known as 'Jokowi', has completed the maximum two terms in office, so this year's election will mark the first change in leadership in 10 years.

Three presidential and vice presidential pairings are vying for the top jobs including a former military general, a one-time academic and a self-professed "man of the people."

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Among other major candidates contesting the polls, Prabowo Subianto (72), former military strongman and Indonesia's current defence minister, is running for the top job for a third time, having lost to Jokowi in 2014 and 2019, Al Jazeera reported.

Another major candidate, Ganjar Pranowo (55), former governor of Central Java and member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is considered a "secular nationalist political party" that backed Jokowi for the presidency in 2014 and 2019 and is led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.

Voting got off to a slow start in Jakarta, with thunderstorms causing flooding in parts of the capital. At least 34 polling stations were affected, but the extent of delays was not clear nor whether it would impact turnout. Turnout in past elections has been about 75%. Some polling stations in Central Java and Bali were decked out in pink and white Valentine's Day decorations, while others in West Java province handed out fruit to waiting voters.

Initial indications of the result are expected to emerge later on Wednesday, based on publicly counted votes from a sampling of polling stations across the country.

Political parties need four per cent of the vote in order to enter parliament. If no single candidate passes the 50 per cent threshold, the top two candidate pairs will go into a second and final round on June 26. The new president will take oath in October.

(With agency inputs)

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