Jayapura (Indonesia), July 8 (DPA) Indonesians begin voting Wednesday in only the second direct presidential elections in the country’s history, with incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is widely expected to win a second five-year term.
Voting commenced at 7 a.m. in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province, in the sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands spanning three different time zones.
More than 176 million of the country’s population of more than 230 million are eligible to vote at 450,000 polling stations.
Around 240,000 police have been deployed across the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country to provide security at polling stations, especially in restive Papua, where ethnic tensions are high and violence marred legislative polls in April.
Incumbent Yudhoyono, 59, one of the former Suharto-era generals with a cleaner reputation, will be competing for a second five-year term against former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and current Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Widely known by his initials SBY, Yudhoyono is hoping to win a clear majority to avoid a September runoff. A candidate is required to win more than 50 percent of the votes and at least 20 percent of the vote in half of the country’s 33 provinces to win without a second-round vote.
In the April legislative election, Yudhoyono’s ruling Democratic Party garnered 20 percent of vote – up from seven percent in 2004 – to become the largest party in Parliament.
