President Leads in Indonesia Vote; Indonesians Disillusioned with Democracy
9 Apr 09 | AJE
The world’s third largest democracy, Indonesia is preparing to elect a new parliament on Thursday. The election is a large and complicated process, but one of the biggest challenges for the candidates is fighting voter apathy. Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from Jakarta (2:47):
Polls have closed in Indonesia, with the Democrat Party of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president, in the lead, according to early reports.
But the preliminary reports on Thursday’s vote, which will determine who is eligible to run for president, suggest Yudhoyono’s party has done less well than expected.
The Democrats were ahead with about 20 per cent based on about 80 per cent of the quick count vote sample by the independent Indonesian Survey Institute.
The Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the party of Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former president, had 15 per cent of the vote, while Golkar, the political platform of Suharto, the late autocratic ruler, held 14 per cent. >>>
