Indonesia holds the largest single-day election in the world; vote counting begins

The polls opened this Wednesday (14) in Indonesia, with more than 200 million voters voting to elect a new president, in what is considered the largest election held in a single day in the world.

The sprawling Southeast Asian nation, the world's third-largest electoral democracy and largest Muslim-majority country, has made impressive gains since the fall of late dictator Suharto's authoritarian regime in 1998 – transforming itself into one of Asia's most vibrant democracies and economies .

Organizing a vote in the world's largest archipelagic nation is a huge effort. The country is wider than the United States and spans three time zones. It is made up of more than 18,000 islands and islets, of which 6,000 are inhabited, and more than 150 languages ​​spoken throughout its extension.

The campaign was dominated by big personalities in a decisive election that will also select around 20,000 other national and provincial legislators.

Younger Indonesians are key, with about half of registered voters under the age of 40, according to the General Elections Commission.

Job opportunities are a priority for many voters, with presidential candidates promising to boost the country's economic growth fueled by rich natural resources and commercial opportunities. But climate change and illegal logging challenge Indonesia's sustainable future.

The candidates

The race is a three-way contest between a former general and two former governors.

Prabowo Subianto, 72, former general and current Defense Minister, is running for president for the third time and is leading the polls. Prabowo is the former son-in-law of the late dictator Suharto, and his controversial past has not harmed his popularity as experts warn that dynastic politics is making a return.

He is accused of kidnapping and torturing pro-democracy activists in the late 1990s while serving as a general – something for which he has repeatedly denied responsibility.

In the years since, he has remade his image as a supporter of democracy, but many activists and analysts remain wary of his authoritarian past.

“The fact that he was favored by former leader Suharto and has now found it politically advantageous to transform himself into an open democrat does not alter the very real prospect that he would return to his brutal past if he managed to ascend to the presidency and no longer need to feign respect for the human rights to advance their ambitions,” he told CNN Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and visiting professor at Princeton University.

Another main candidate is Ganjar Pranowo, the candidate of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. He served two terms as governor of Central Java, which gained him a large following outside the capital Jakarta on Indonesia's most populous island. His running mate is senior minister Mahfud MD.

Former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan is running as an independent candidate. He has strong links to Islamic political groups and his pick for vice president, Muhaimin Iskandar, is the leader of Indonesia's largest Muslim political party, the National Awakening Party.

Anies was the former governor of Jakarta, a position he won in 2017 after accusing his main candidate – an ethnic Chinese Christian, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as “Ahok” – of blasphemy.

Voting

Voting started slowly in Jakarta, with storms causing flooding in parts of the capital, but the last voters cast their ballots on Wednesday afternoon, just before the vote count closed and began.

Around 70 polling stations were affected by the deluge, but it was unclear whether any delays would impact turnout. Turnout in previous elections was around 75%.

(With information from Kathleen Magramo and Heather Chen of CNN ; and Johan Purnomo, Heru Asprihanto and Sita Zahra Matarani of Reuters)

Source: CNN Brasil

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