Voting kicks off in Indonesia's general elections

More than 820,000 polling stations throughout Indonesia opened simultaneously on February 14 morning for more than 204.8 million eligible voters to cast their ballots in the country’s presidential, national and provincial elections.

At a polling station in Bogor on February 14

Voting began at 7:00 a.m. and will end at 1:00 p.m. on the same day. Votes will be counted at the polling stations on the day. Offices and schools had a day off for this important event.

In this election, more than half of the voters are between 17 and 40 years old and about 30% are under 30 years old.

Voters, with five ballots, are able choose 20,614 positions including President, Vice President, 152 seats in the Regional Representative Council (DPD seats), 580 seats in the House of Representatives (DPR), 2,327 seats for DPR I at the provincial level and 17,510 seats for DPRD II at the district level, in 38 provinces, and 514 districts and cities nationwide.

As many as 24 political parties, including 18 national and six regional in Aceh, are racing in the election. The three candidates running for President are Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan.

The voting process has been supervised by the General Elections Commission (KPU), the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), representatives of parties and localities, and international observers./.

VNA