Voting for Parliament election in Indonesia

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Indonesian Leaders Join Election Campaigns

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2009-04-09 14:01:48 - With counting begins results intiated trickling in Thursday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party coming in the lead with around 20 percent of votes.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on way to re-election, early results from Thursday's general elections shows President's Democratic Party leading with 20 percent of votes.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) headed by former President Megawati Sukarnoputri came second with around 15 percent; and the Golkar Party trailing third with nearly 13 percent.The religious-based Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) came fourth with around 8 percent.

Other political outfits may managed to be in list of first 10 include the National Awakening Party, the National Mandate Party,

the United Development Party, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), and the People's Concience Party

Indonesia, South East Asia's biggest economy, have begun voting to elect a new Parliament.The main issue in voters' mind will be maintaining growth in the face of the global financial downturn alongwith corruption.

Nearly forty parties are contesting the election with the Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ahead in the polls. Today Thursday's election for a new 560-member legislature is being closely watched because it will determine who will qualify to run for president in July.The party or coalition that wins a fifth of the seats 25 percent of the popular vote can nominate a candidate for that race.

Yudhoyono's Democrat Party is expected to come out on top, but with more than 170 million people registered to vote and 38 parties to choose from, nothing is certain. Other front-runners are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle headed by former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the largest party, Golkar.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, emerged from 32 years of dictatorship under Gen. Suharto in 1998, leading to reforms that freed the media, abandoned repressive laws and, in 2000, allowed citizens to vote for president for the first time. For world it is classical case of Islam and democracy can go hand-in-hand.

Yudhoyono's party wins 26 percent of the popular vote, as some opinion polls predict, will be dauntless not to cobble together an alliance with others seen to be less willing to tackle corruption, overhaul the judiciary and streamline bureaucracy.

"At this moment it looks like he's going to make it," said a political analyst from Airlangga University in the city of Surabaya.Inputs Media Indonesia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the first democratically elected president, has made it for two consecutive terms.

Megawati Sukarnoputri launched a Constitutional Court challenge Tuesday to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election victory.The daughter of independence hero Sukarno has refused to accept the results of the July 8 polls, which she lost in a landslide to ex-general Yudhoyono, just as she lost the previous election to him in 2004.