by Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesians go to the polls on Wednesday to elect President Joko Widodo’s successor, whose influence could determine who takes charge of the world’s third-largest democracy.
Two former governors, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan, face Prabowo Subianto, current Minister of Defense and favorite in the election.
Prabowo Subianto is running for the third time in the presidential election, after losing twice to Joko Widodo.
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The former president, who cannot run again since he has already served two terms at the head of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, implicitly supports his former rival and counts on him to preserve his legacy, notably by entrusting his son with the role of running mate.
Polls taken last week credited Prabowo Subianto with 51.8% and 51.9% of the vote, a lead of 27 and 31 percentage points over Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo.
To win in the first round, a candidate must obtain more than 50% of the votes and 20% of the votes in half of the country’s provinces.
Indonesia has three time zones and polling stations have already opened in the east of the country. Polling stations located in the west of the archipelago must close their doors at 06:00 GMT.
Flooding, caused by heavy thunderstorms, was reported in parts of the Indonesian capital and the opening of a polling station in central Jakarta was delayed.
The extent of the delays was not specified, but Jakarta’s disaster agency released photos showing a flooded polling station.
The electoral commission had earlier said that voting could be delayed in ten villages in central Java island, in the southwest of the archipelago, due to flooding.
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangogy, Bernadette Chrsistina Munthe, Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto, written by Martin Petty; French version Camille Raynaud)
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