Polls open across Indonesia to elect new leaders

More than 204 million people are eligible to cast ballots to elect next president, vice president and lawmakers

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Voting began Wednesday in Indonesia’s presidential, national and provincial elections.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0000GMT) amid heavy rain in the capital Jakarta and other parts of the country and are scheduled to close at 1 p.m. (0600GMT).

More than 204 million people are eligible to cast ballots to elect the country’s next president, vice president and lawmakers for the parliament as well as members of provincial legislative bodies.

It marks the seventh general elections in the Southeast Asian country, the world’s third largest democracy and world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy.

It is also the world's largest single-day elections to elect around 20,000 administrative officials across 38 provinces.

Indonesia is home to more than 274 million people.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, two-term governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan are the three frontrunners for the president’s post.

Kaynak:

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