Amid storms and floods, Indonesians cast their votes to elect a new president

Nearly 259,000 candidates are competing for 20,600 positions.

Amid strong storms that struck the capital, Jakarta, causing massive floods, Indonesian voters began casting their votes today, Wednesday, in presidential, legislative, and local elections, led by the race to succeed President Joko Widodo,

 whose influence may contribute to determining who will assume leadership of the third largest democracy in the world, and 259,000 candidates are competing for 20,600 positions in the largest... Elections take place within one day in the world.

Indonesian voters began casting their votes on Wednesday in presidential, legislative, and local elections led by the race to succeed President Joko Widodo, whose influence may help determine who will lead the world's third-largest democracy.

 

Nearly 259,000 candidates are competing for 20,600 positions in the largest single-day elections in the world.

 But all eyes are focused on the presidential race and the fate of President Widodo's ambitions to strengthen the country's position as a center for electric car production and expand massive infrastructure development, including a multi-billion-dollar plan to move the capital.

 

Competing to succeed Widodo, known as Jokowi, are former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Governor Jangar Pranowo, in front of the controversial front-runner Prabowo Subianto, a defense minister and former special forces commander.

 

Two opinion polls last week predicted that Prabowo would win a majority of votes and avoid a second round.

 

To win directly, a candidate needs more than 50% of the total electoral votes and 20% of the votes in half of the country's regions.

 

Indonesia has three time zones, and polling stations across the country are now open, with voting in the western regions scheduled to end at 0600 GMT.

 

The voting process began slowly in Jakarta, as thunderstorms caused floods in parts of the capital, and at least 34 polling stations were affected, but it was not clear the extent of the delay or whether it would affect the participation rate, which reached about 75% in the last elections.