By Ainur Romah
JAKARTA, Indonesia
The Indonesian Democratic-Struggle Party (PDI-P) emerged triumphant in the country’s legislative elections Wednesday, according to a quick count completed around seven hours after polls closed.
It will take at least a month for official results to be known, however, the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that PDI-P had won according to a random selection of the around 186 million votes recorded Wednesday at polling stations nationwide.
With the count completed, the PDI-P was at 19.2 percent, Golkar at 12.8 percent, and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) at 10.2 percent. All three are likely to run candidates in July's presidential election.
The American think tank had the ruling Democratic Party in fourth with 7.70 percent.
The Jakarta-based pollster Indonesian Survey Institute had the PDI-P at 18.5 percent, Golkar at 16.5 percent and the Democrats third with 12.5 percent, followed by Gerindra at 12 percent.
Interviewed by Metro TV on Wednesday evening, PDi-P presidential frontrunner Jokowi -- the popular governor of the capital, Jakarta -- thanked people for choosing his party.
The PDI-P faction chairman for Semarang Regency Regional Parliament, The Hok Hiong, told The Anadolu Agency late Wednesday that he wasn't surprised by the result as research had predicted the win.
"Jokowi is representative of those who show modesty, honesty and are willing to hear people's voices," he told The AA.
The county's twice-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono steps down in October after reaching the legal limit, and Jokowi is now seen as a frontrunner for the presidential election.
Indonesia -- the world's most populous Muslim nation -- was a military dictatorship until 15 years ago, governed by former president and dictator General Suharto.
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