Over 190 million Indonesians go to world’s largest polls
More than 190 million Indonesians, including some two million living overseas, are set to cast their ballots on April 17 in the world’s biggest one-day elections. Voters in the Muslim-majority country will choose a new president and vice president, hundreds of parliamentarians and almost 20,000 more local officials at over 805,000 polling stations across the Southeast Asian archipelago.
The complex vote will happen over about eight hours, with voting to kick off at 7:00 am local time in easternmost Papua and ending at 1:00 pm in Indonesia’s westernmost time zone, which includes the capital Jakarta.
Overall, 16 parties are contesting the 575 seats in the House of Representatives, Indonesia’s lower house of parliament.
The polling booths staffed by more than six million election workers. Elections officials use every means possible to get ballot boxes to voters in mountain-top villages, deep in the jungle and on remote islands. They transport them by jeep, boat, on horseback and even by foot.
A series of “quick counts” are released by election officials hours after voting. These unofficial tallies have in the past accurately predicted the final results, which are expected in May.
Opinion polls have put incumbent president Joko Widodo well ahead of his sole challenger, ex-general Prabowo Subianto, in a re-run of the pair’s 2014 race, which Widodo narrowly won. Widodo has overseen solid economic growth in his first term, but his rival’s political line is that many Indonesians aren’t seeing the benefits.
Photo courtesy: AFP More than 190 million Indonesians, including some two million living overseas, are set to cast their ballots on April 17 in the world's biggest one-day elections. Voters in the Muslim-majority country will choose a new president and vice president, hundreds of parliamentarians and almost 20,000 more local officials at over 805,000 polling stations across the Southeast Asian archipelago. The complex vote will happen over about eight hours, with voting to kick off at 7:00 am local time in easternmost Papua and ending at 1:00 pm in Indonesia's westernmost time zone, which includes the capital Jakarta. Overall, 16...
More than 190 million Indonesians, including some two million living overseas, are set to cast their ballots on April 17 in the world’s biggest one-day elections. Voters in the Muslim-majority country will choose a new president and vice president, hundreds of parliamentarians and almost 20,000 more local officials at over 805,000 polling stations across the Southeast Asian archipelago.
The complex vote will happen over about eight hours, with voting to kick off at 7:00 am local time in easternmost Papua and ending at 1:00 pm in Indonesia’s westernmost time zone, which includes the capital Jakarta.
Overall, 16 parties are contesting the 575 seats in the House of Representatives, Indonesia’s lower house of parliament.
The polling booths staffed by more than six million election workers. Elections officials use every means possible to get ballot boxes to voters in mountain-top villages, deep in the jungle and on remote islands. They transport them by jeep, boat, on horseback and even by foot.
A series of “quick counts” are released by election officials hours after voting. These unofficial tallies have in the past accurately predicted the final results, which are expected in May.
Opinion polls have put incumbent president Joko Widodo well ahead of his sole challenger, ex-general Prabowo Subianto, in a re-run of the pair’s 2014 race, which Widodo narrowly won. Widodo has overseen solid economic growth in his first term, but his rival’s political line is that many Indonesians aren’t seeing the benefits.
