Voters in Indonesia are preparing to elect a new national parliament, in a vote that will shape how the world’s third largest democracy responds to the challenges of the global economic crisis, writes Aljazeera.net Wednesday.
Some 171 million Indonesians are eligible to vote, with more than 13.000 candidates competing for 132 seats in the upper house of parliament and 560 seats in the lower house.
The election is only the third democratic vote since the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime in 1998 and will help decide the field of contenders for presidential elections scheduled for July.
About half a million polling stations will be in operation during the vote, across an archipelago nation of more than 17.000 islands spread across three time zones.
A three week campaign period leading up to Thursday’s vote has been billed as a celebration of the Indonesia’s young democracy, with towns and cities decked in colourful flags of the 38 competing parties.
One survey published on Sunday by the Indonesian Survey Institute gave the Democrats 26,6 per cent.
If those polls prove correct the vote will be a major victory for Yudhoyono and put him well on course for re-election as head of state in July.
