Ex-general set to win Indonesia election

A FORMER general who has pledged to get tough on terrorism and fix the economy won a landslide victory over incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia's landmark elections yesterday.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a commanding lead in partial official results and in an unofficial survey of voting. Ms Megawati, however, has not conceded and said she would await the full official results, which are expected in about two weeks' time.

Yesterday's voting was the second round in Indonesia's first-ever direct presidential elections and a key step in the transition to democracy in the world's most populous Muslim nation since the downfall of former dictator Suharto in 1998.

Mr Yudhoyono was expected to win 62% of the vote, compared with 38% for Ms Megawati in the runoff election, according to the survey conducted by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, the international arm of the US Democratic Party.

"We are facing a new era, the next president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by quite a wide margin," Rizal Mallarangeng, from NDI's local partner, the Institute for Social and Economic Research Education and Information, told Metro TV.

Turn-out was estimated at between 147 million and 152 million voters.

More than 140,000 police officers were deployed across the country amid warnings that the al-Qaida linked militants blamed for a deadly September 9 suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta were planning more attacks.

"I voted for Yudhoyono because I think he is smart and good looking," said Siti Komariah, a 53-year-old housewife at a polling booth in West Jakarta.

"I want the country to be safer, I want prices to be lower and I want everyone to have the opportunity to go to school."

There were no reports of election-related violence.

Suharto, now aged 83, voted near his home in central Jakarta. The former dictator, who has avoided trials for corruption because of alleged ill health, looked frail but healthy.

Mr Yudhoyono, who served as Ms Megawati's security minister before resigning in March to contest the elections, was leading by about 20 percentage points in opinion polls going into the elections.

The US-educated general, who is known universally by his initials SBY, earlier predicted he would garner up to 60% of the vote.