Indonesia’s parliamentary vote likely to set Jakarta governor on course for presidency
Buoyed by the popularity of Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, exit polling shows PDI-P ahead
Indonesians went to the polls yesterday in legislative elections expected to strengthen the main opposition and move its popular presidential candidate, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, closer to becoming the country's next leader.
Millions streamed to polling stations across the huge archipelago, which spans three time zones from remote and mountainous Papua in the east to the crowded main island of Java and to Sumatra in the west.
"We hope for representatives who care about our interests rather than their own. I've picked the most honest and fair candidates," voter Ilyas Hasan, 43, said in Jayapura, the capital of deeply poor Papua province.
About 186 million people are eligible to vote for some 230,000 candidates competing for about 20,000 seats in national and regional legislatures, but the most important is the vote for the national legislature's lower house.
The polls will also determine who can run in presidential elections in July and all eyes are on front runner Widodo and his main opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), expected to win the biggest share of the vote.
"I'm very confident my party will do very well," said the governor, 52, smiling broadly after voting near his official residence in Jakarta, as he was mobbed by a scrum of about 200 journalists.
One early exit poll, issued by CSIS-Cyrus, showed the PDI-P with 19.36 per cent of the popular vote, in first place but slightly lower than surveys had predicted. Official results will be released in early May.
