UPDATE - Millions of Indonesians cast ballots to elect new leaders

REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE, ADDS DETAILS ON VOTES CAST BY PRESIDENT, FRONTRUNNERS

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Millions of Indonesians headed to polling stations Wednesday to cast their ballots in the country’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 vote to choose the country’s next president, vice president and lawmakers for the parliament as well as members of provincial legislative bodies.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan are the three frontrunners to succeed President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi.”

“This is a celebration of democracy,” Jokowi told reporters before casting his vote along with first lady Iriana Widodo in the Gambir district of Jakarta.

Baswedan cast his vote at a polling station near his private residence in Lebak Bulus in southern Jakarta.

Pranowo voted in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province, where he served as governor for a decade.

Leading in pre-poll surveys, Subianto cast his ballot in the Hambalang area of West Java province.

No survey has shown any of the three candidates passing the 50% mark to claim the presidency.

Early voting began overseas, where the Indonesian diaspora cast their ballots since Feb. 5.

Indonesia is world’s third largest democracy and world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy.

It is also holding the world's largest single-day elections to choose around 20,000 administrative officials across 38 provinces where 820,000 polling stations have been set up.

Some seven million officials have been deployed to oversee polls on election day, marred by rains and flooding in some areas.

It marks the second time since 2019 that Indonesia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously.

Besides presidential hopefuls, some 10,000 candidates are vying for positions.

Indonesia is home to more than 274 million people.

The Southeast Asian country held its first free general elections in 1999 and has since 2004 directly elected its president.

Spread across 17,000 islands, Indonesia has three time zones.

Barring police and military personnel, anyone aged 17 and above can vote.

Polling in the eastern provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua, South Papua, Central Papua, Papua Highlands and Southwest Papua has closed.