Yudhoyono all but assured victory in Indonesian poll (Roundup)

Jul 9, 2009, 10:57 GMT

   Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was all but assured a second five-year term as counting continued Thursday after the second direct presidential election in the country's history.

   An exit poll and quick counts of early voting conducted by three survey institutions on Wednesday's election day all showed Yudhoyono leading with around 60 per cent of the vote.

   An early count by the General Elections Commission, the official body that organized the poll, gave Yudhoyono 61.7 per cent, with almost 19 million votes counted on Thursday.

   His rivals, former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and current Vice President Jusuf Kalla, had 28.6 and 9.8 per cent, respectively, according to the commission's tally.

   A candidate needs to win a clear majority and at least 20 per cent of the vote in half the country's provinces to win and avoid a runoff.

   Fachry Ali, a political expert from the University of Indonesia, said a stronger mandate would allow Yudhoyono to push through further reforms.

   Yudhoyono's decision to pick an economist with a reputation of competence and independence, former central bank chief Boediono, instead of a politician, showed that he has a focus on improving the economy, Fachry said.

   'He wants to break away from the shackles of political parties in decision-making,' Fachry said. 'The government will be more market-friendly.'

   Megawati said Thursday she was considering challenging the election results, saying that the electoral commission had failed to respond to her complaints about duplicate names in the voter rolls and that many voters were unable to cast their ballots.

   'We will meet to conduct an evaluation and decide what action we can take,' she told an interview with Metro TV.

   She warned of unrest if alleged irregularities were not addressed.

   'This could explode and I don't want it to happen. I'm not being provocative,' she said.

   Yudhoyono, a former general largely untainted by the excesses associated with the 32-year rule of former dictator Suharto, has welcomed the news of impending victory as 'an indication of success.'

   The vote went peacefully throughout the archipelago nation of 17,000 islands, observers said.

  More than 176 million of Indonesia's more than 230 million people were eligible to vote at 450,000 polling stations.

   The official final tally and turnout would not be available until July 27.

   Although often criticized as indecisive, Yudhoyono has been credited with some successes in his first term, including stabilizing the economy, cracking down on deep-rooted graft and bringing peace to rebellious Aceh province. He won the 2004 election on pledges to root out corruption, alleviate poverty and spur economic growth.

   A decade ago, South-East Asia's largest economy was in shambles, being hard-hit by the region's 1997-98 financial crisis.

   Until a few years ago, Indonesia still grappled with a separatist insurgency in Aceh, deadly bombings carried out by Islamic militants and Muslim-Christian violence in the east of the country.

   Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but in some provinces in the country's east, Christians make up the majority.

   In the April legislative elections, Yudhoyono's Democratic Party garnered 20 per cent of vote - up from 7 per cent in 2004 - to become the largest party in parliament.