Former general leads landmark Indonesian election

8.25am - By DEAN YATES and BILL TARRANT

JAKARTA - Retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had an early lead on Monday in Indonesia's first direct presidential election that strengthened democracy in the Muslim country after decades of authoritarian rule.

Yudhoyono had 33 per cent of the votes based on returns from two per cent of the 153 million people eligible to vote. President Megawati Sukarnoputri had 27 per cent, the election commission said on its website (tnp.kpu.go.id).

Former armed forces chief Wiranto was third with 22 per cent. Two other candidates were well behind. If no one wins more than 50 per cent of the vote, which appeared likely, the two leading candidates will go head-to-head in a September 20 run-off.

From primitive tribesmen in far eastern Papua province and Hindu farmers in Bali to trendy Jakarta office workers and beleaguered residents of strife-torn Aceh in the west, Indonesians turned out in force for the landmark election.

Unofficial reports put turnout at more than 80 per cent, with voters in the world's most populous Muslim country expressing delight about directly electing their president six years after the fall of long-time autocrat Suharto.

Opinion polls ahead of election day showed Yudhoyono, who resigned as Megawati's security minister in March, with a 20 to 30 per cent lead over his four rivals, and a close battle for second among Megawati, Wiranto and moderate Muslim leader Amien Rais.

A number of ballots were incorrectly punched due to confusion over the folded ballot paper, said Gunawan Hidayat, national coordinator for the People Voter Education Network, which deployed 100,000 monitors.

The Election Commission ordered them counted as valid and Chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin saw few irregularities. "The general impression is everything has gone smoothly," he told reporters.

Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding father, Sukarno, proved unable to jump-start a sluggish economy and clean up rampant corruption during three years in power.

"I am very disappointed with the current government. Megawati seems weak," said Gafur Latuconsina, 54, a rice seller in Ambon, capital of the Molucca Islands in the far east.

In the old-money Jakarta precinct of Menteng, a frail-looking Suharto, the ex-general who ruled for 32 years before stepping down amid student-led demonstrations in 1998, cast his vote early.

"This is a wonderful transition from authoritarian rule to purely democratic rule in just six years and the people of Indonesia are to be congratulated," said former US president Jimmy Carter, one of hundreds of international poll monitors.

Voters were attracted to Yudhoyono as an honourable soldier who unlike Wiranto, the other former general in the race, was untainted by a human rights scandal during his military career.

Final results will not be announced until July 26, but a group of election watchdogs was expected to release a "quick count" of results from representative precincts late on Monday that proved remarkably accurate in April's legislative elections.

Previously, a national assembly chose leaders in the nation of 17,000 islands and 220 million people, about 85 per cent of them Muslim.

With all the candidates drawn from Jakarta's political elite, little divided the top four on major policy issues. None called for an Islamic state and some analysts said the election underlined the compatibility of democracy and Islam.

The vote followed a messy shift to democracy since Suharto quit, a period marred by political chaos and economic crisis.

Investor fears of election-related violence hurt shares and the currency, but the campaign and voting were peaceful.

"The market is betting that whatever the outcome of the vote, policies will remain market-friendly," said Thio Chin Loo, currency analyst at BNP Paribas in Singapore.

The peaceful election eased some of the uncertainties hanging over the market, said Kahlil Rowter, head of research at Mandiri Sekuritas, adding: "I think the rupiah and the stock market could go higher on Tuesday."

Results provided by the General Election Commission. The counted ballots represent five per cent of 153 million eligible voters. Unofficial reports put turnout at more than 80 per cent.

1. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 33.0 per cent

2. Megawati Sukarnoputri 26.8 per cent

3. Wiranto 23.2 per cent

4. Amien Rais 13.6 per cent

5. Hamzah Haz 3.4 per cent

(Additional reporting by Achmad Sukarsono, Jerry Norton, Muklis Ali and Harry Suhartono in Jakarta, Tomi Soetjipto in Ambon, Beawiranata in Papua)

- REUTERS