Indonesia Votes- BBC

8 July 2014 Last updated at 21:22 ET

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Indonesians vote in tight presidential race

The race between Prabowo Subianto (L) and Joko Widodo (R) is seen as too close to call

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About 190 million registered voters have begun casting ballots for the president of Indonesia, the world's third largest democracy.

They are choosing between Joko Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, and Prabowo Subianto, an ex-army general.

Opinion polls so far have suggested that it will be a very tight race.

Mr Widodo, also known as Jokowi, appeared to be leading in opinion polls early on, but that margin narrowed as Mr Subianto gained ground.

The first polls opened at 07:00 local time on Friday (22:00 GMT on Thursday) in the east of the country. Jakarta and the island of Java began voting two hours later at 07:00 in their time zone (0000 GMT).

In recent weeks media outlets have been accused of favouring particular candidates, prompting outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to call for more balanced coverage.

Mr Yudhoyono cannot stand for another term as the constitution has a two-term limit.

Commentators say undecided voters will have a significant impact on results. About one-fifth of Indonesians fell into this category in the late June surveys.

Security tight
 
Mr Widodo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is a popular figure with the public.

Indonesia elections

190million

eligible voters

• 30% will be first-time voters at
  
• 479,183 polling stations on
  
• 8,000 inhabited islands across Indonesia and overseas
  

Source: IFES

 

AP

 

He is supported by young people in both urban and rural areas who see him as a clean politician in a country beset by corruption.

But critics say he lacks experience in national politics and international relations.

He is supported by Indonesia's most popular Islamic Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), and the National Democrat Party (NasDem).

Mr Subianto, from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), is seen as a convincing campaigner and a decisive man with good knowledge of defence, because of his military background.
He has, however, been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses committed during former dictator Suharto's regime, which ended in 1998.

In the final days of Suharto's rule, the unit which he commanded is accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing activists protesting against Suharto.

Mr Subianto is supported by Golkar, which is Indonesia's second largest party. He is also endorsed by the Democratic Party (Demokrat) of current leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Both campaigns have used nationalistic rhetoric on the economy, corruption and other domestic issues such as infrastructure and social security, but they have been less vocal on detailed policies on job creation and boosting economic growth.

 

 

The poll, taking place across hundreds of island, is a major logistical challenge

 

Ballot boxes have been ferried to remote islands in speedboats and sent by helicopters to far-flung hamlets

 

Ahead of the vote, election officials delivered ballot boxes to polling stations around the country, ferrying them to Indonesia's numerous islands by speedboat, carrying them on horseback along mountain paths and dropping them off at remote hamlets with helicopters and small planes.

Meanwhile in Jakarta the authorities have deployed 22,300 policemen to keep the peace, reports say.
The official result will be announced on 21-22 July, but independent and unofficial poll counts will be provided later in the day on Wednesday and are known to be accurate.

The new president will be inaugurated on 20 October and will have to appoint a cabinet within two weeks.