ISTANBUL 

Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto is in the lead on the initial quick count of votes in the world’s largest single-day election on Wednesday to elect the successor of President Joko Widodo, multiple local media outlets reported.

Initial results indicated that Subianto, who led the pre-poll surveys, is getting closer to an outright win. Local English daily Jakarta Globe reported citing independent pollsters.

Pollster Lembaga Survei Indonesia reported that Prabowo Subianto has secured 57.13% of the votes as of 4.17 p.m. (local time). He is followed by Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (25.55%) and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. (17.33%).

The quick count polls have collected 59.7% of the votes.

Another quick count by Poltracking Indonesia reported that Subianto was leading with 59.68%, followed by Anies-Muhaimin (23.38%), and Ganjar fell behind by only earning 16.94%) of the votes. 

A six-hour-long voting process has concluded in Indonesia where millions of people on Wednesday cast their ballots in the country’s presidential, national, and provincial elections.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0000GMT) amid heavy rain in the capital Jakarta and other parts of the country and closed at 1 p.m. (0600GMT).

Counting has begun at many places.

However, heavy rains and flooding forced the election authority to delay polls in the Demak regency, Central Java, according to Jakarta Post news website, while some polling stations were damaged due to gusty winds and downpours.

The official results will be announced in the next 35 days, with early trends of Wednesday's poll expected to flow by late Wednesday local time. Voter turnout was yet to be released.

More than 204 million people were eligible to vote to choose the country’s next president, vice president, and lawmakers for the parliament, as well as members of provincial legislative bodies.

Prabowo Subianto, former Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, and former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan are the three frontrunners to succeed President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi.”

“This is a celebration of democracy,” Jokowi told reporters before casting his vote, along with first lady Iriana Widodo in the Gambir district of Jakarta.

Baswedan cast his vote at a polling station near his private residence in Lebak Bulus, southern Jakarta.

Pranowo voted in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province, where he served as governor for a decade.

Leading in pre-poll surveys, Subianto cast his ballot in the Hambalang area of West Java province.

No survey has shown any of the three candidates passing the 50% mark to claim the presidency.

Voting in country and overseas

Indonesia is the world’s third-largest democracy and the largest Muslim-majority democracy. It is also holding the world's largest single-day elections to choose around 20,000 administrative officials across 38 provinces where 820,000 polling stations have been set up.

It marks the second time since 2019 that Indonesia, home to more than 274 million people, will hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously. Besides presidential hopefuls, some 10,000 candidates are vying for positions.

The Southeast Asian country held its first free general elections in 1999 and has since 2004 directly elected its president.

Spread across 17,000 islands, Indonesia has three time zones. Barring police and military personnel, anyone aged 17 and above can vote.

Polling in the eastern provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua, South Papua, Central Papua, Papua Highlands, and Southwest Papua closed two hours early.

Likewise, polling had stopped an hour early in South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo, West Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.

Early voting began also overseas, where the Indonesian diaspora has been casting their ballots since Feb. 5. Some 7 million officials have been deployed to oversee polls on election day, marred by rains and flooding in some areas.​​​​​​​