Polls open in Indonesian legislative elections

Polling stations in Indonesia opened early today in nationwide legislative elections, with dozens of districts facing delays because of logistical hiccups.

The polls, spread across three time zones, opened in heavy rain in the easternmost region of Papua at 7:00 am (3: 30 am IST), but bad weather and administrative issues have left more than 30 districts there facing delays of up to three days.

"The polls are open in the main towns, like Jayapura, but last night planes still couldn't reach some districts in the mountains," Papua province election official Betty Wanane told AFP.

She added that the local election body was not given a large enough budget to deliver all the ballots and boxes, and that several deadlines for logistics had been missed.

Local media reported cases of legislative candidates making last-ditch attempts to buy votes with cooking oil, sugar and other handouts in a widespread but illegal practice.

The main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is expected to dominate the vote, buoyed by its announcement last month of the wildly popular Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as its presidential candidate.

The legislative elections, the fourth in Indonesia since the downfall of the three-decade Suharto dictatorship in 1998, are important because they decide who can run at presidential polls on July 9.

A party or coalition needs 20% of seats in the 560-seat lower house of parliament or 25% of the national vote to field a candidate.

While the main focus is on the election at the national level, Indonesians will also be voting for lawmakers in provincial and district legislatures on the same day.

Some 186 million Indonesians are eligible to vote, and around 230,000 candidates are competing nationwide for about 20,000 seats.

Unofficial tallies carried out by private pollsters, known as "quick counts", are released several hours after polls close at 1:00 pm and are normally accurate. Official results are not expected until early May.