Indonesian president set to win

2009-07-09 13:02

Jakarta - Indonesia's president appeared all but certain to win another five-year term in office, with early ballot counts indicating a sweeping election victory that would give him a powerful mandate to press ahead with democratic reforms.

An unofficial quick count of ballots sampled from 2 000 polling stations in Wednesday's election showed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono winning 60% of the vote. That would put him well beyond a 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off in September in the predominantly Islamic nation of 235 million.

But Yudhoyono opponents - without providing proof - made accusations of electoral fraud, questioned the validity of the quick count polling and threatened to contest the final results, raising fears of political deadlock.

The preliminary result was based on ballots from all 33 provinces and conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle, which has accurately forecast previous elections.

The survey count showed that Megawati Sukarnoputri, a former president whose father was the first postcolonial leader of Indonesia, was in second place at 27%, followed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla in third at 13%.

Five other pollsters conducted exit polls and quick counts that also gave Yudhoyono around 60% of the vote.

"The (official) vote count is clearly not finished, although quick counts show the success of our struggle," Yudhoyono said in televised comments from his private residence. Complaints about the results can be filed with elections officials, he noted.

'So far, I am satisfied with his work'

Kalla, who heads the party of former dictator Suharto, Golkar, said he was "shocked" by the quick counts indicating his defeat, but that his polling monitors are confident that "the result is not like that".

Prabowo Subianto, Sukarnoputri's vice presidential running mate, told reporters that his team is preparing for possible legal action, but did not elaborate.

An official result is to be released by the National Election Commission by July 27. The commission did not respond to repeated phone calls seeking comment.

There were no reports of major incidents at roughly 450 000 polling stations across Indonesia's thousands of islands, including in the capital, Jakarta, where early estimates showed Yudhoyono had taken 70% of the vote.

"So far, I am satisfied with his work," said Ahmad Yani, a 43-year-old hotel employee who voted for Yudhoyono after his station was opened with a Muslim prayer. "The fight against corruption is improving, I see new roads, new buildings and other infrastructure."

Fifty-year-old mechanic Toto Hardoto, also in Jakarta, credited Yudhoyono for "maintaining religious harmony" after years of sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians that had been destabilising Indonesia.

Under Yudhoyono's watch, the Corruption Eradication Commission has put a dozen lawmakers behind bars, earning it many powerful enemies in the graft-ridden police, parliament and judiciary.

- AP