Widodo party leads poll

FE Team | Published: April 11, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

JAKARTA, Apr 10 (Agencies) : Indonesia's opposition Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leads parliamentary polls but its star candidate may face a tougher path to the presidency, early election results indicate.
Unofficial tallies show, the party secured about 19 per cent of the vote which was lower than expected, meaning the governor -- a fresh face in a country dominated by figures from the autocratic Suharto era -- may face a tougher than expected path to the presidency.
The 52-year-old former furniture business owner struck an upbeat tone nevertheless, telling reporters: "Thank God, the people have put their trust in the PDI-P."
But it is not clear if it will meet the 25 per cent voting threshold to enter Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo in the 9 July presidential election by itself.
The official election results will be announced in May.
Indonesian stocks slipped more than three per cent Thursday after the main opposition failed to perform as well as expected in legislative elections, sparking fears of future policy deadlock in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
The Jakarta market ended down 3.16 per cent after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) came first with around 20 per cent of the vote in Wednesday's polls, according to unofficial tallies.
But while the PDI-P won -- and its popular presidential candidate, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, is on course to be the country's next leader -- the results suggest it will have to form a large coalition government.
Some 19,000 seats were contested across Indonesia in Wednesday's polls, including the 560 seats in the national parliament.
A poll by Jakarta think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), put the opposition Golkar party in second place with 14% of the vote, followed by the Great Indonesia Movement Party with 12%.
Islamic parties also appeared to have performed better than expected, together grabbing about a third of the national vote.
Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - who cannot serve a third term as president - fell by half. His party came in fourth with 10% of the vote.