by Ainur Romah - Anadolu Agency
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Voting has closed in Indonesia's legislative elections, with the Indonesian Democratic-Struggle Party (PDI-P) expected to emerge in first place.
Polling stations in the world’s third largest democracy shut at 1pm local time Wednesday, with the counting of around 186 million votes beginning immediately.
Official results are not expected to be announced for around one month, however "quick counts" are expected to be released within two hours based on a sample of votes taken from the stations.
Early projections put the PDI-P at 18.99 percent, Golkar at 14.41 percent, and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) at 11.93 percent, with 78 percent of the quick count completed. All three are likely to run candidates in July's presidential election.
Jokowi – Joko Widodo, the popular governor of the capital Jakarta and PDi-P presidential frontrunner - is expected to lead the count.
Prior to 2005, he was a little-known furniture retailer, but his stock began to rise that year when he became mayor of the central Javanese city of Solo. He won a landslide victory in 2010, only to resign in 2012 to run for governor of Jakarta, winning on a reputation of incorruptibility.
The county's twice-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono steps down in October after reaching the legal limit, and Jokowi can now be seen as a frontrunner in the presidential election.
Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim nation was a military dictatorship until 15 years ago, governed by Suharto.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
