National elections are going on in Indonesia. About 204 million voters will elect the new president, vice-president, members of parliament and local representatives. It is the biggest one-day election in the world.
Voting will end on Wednesday afternoon local time. Voting is going on in three time zones in the country. Election results are expected to be announced on this day. However, some parts of Jakarta and Java are experiencing heavy rain.
The three main presidential candidates in the election are current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and Central Java Governor Ganjar Prano.
Indonesia is the third largest electoral democracy in the world. It is also the largest among Muslim majority countries. Since the end of Suharto’s rule in 1998, the country has been steadily moving towards democracy. Although economically lagging behind neighboring Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand, this situation is gradually changing.
Every time Indonesia’s election is very much talked about around the world. The country is huge in size. It is wider than the United States. The country has 18 thousand islands.
A total of more than 150 languages are spoken in the Southeast Asian country. A total of 20,000 national and regional legislators will be elected by the people of Indonesia in the elections. Young voters will play the biggest role in the election results. Half of the voters are under 40 years of age.