Asia

Voting underway in Indonesia presidential elections

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A worker prepares a ballot box to be distributed to polling stations in in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. The world's third largest democracy is gearing up to hold its legislative and presidential elections that will pit the incumbent Joko Widodo against his contender former special forces general Prabowo Subianto.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, Indonesian presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto, second from left, and his running mate Sandiaga Uno, left, Joko Widodo, second from right, and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin, show the ballot numbers that will represent them in the upcoming presidential election, during a draw at the General Election Commission office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia's presidential election Wednesday, April 17, 2019 is a re-run of the 2014 contest when Widodo, a furniture business owner who became Jakarta governor, vied with the former special forces general to lead the world's third-largest democracy and most populous Muslim-majority nation. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

Voting is underway in Indonesia's presidential and legislative elections after a campaign that that pitted the moderate incumbent against an ultra-nationalist former general.

Polling booths opened at 7 a.m. Wednesday in easternmost provinces and voting begins in the capital Jakarta two hours later. Indonesia has three time zones.

About 193 million people are eligible to vote in polls that will decide who leads the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Voting ends at 1 p.m. and so called "quick count" results are expected after about two hours.

The presidential race is a choice between five more years of the steady progress achieved under Indonesia's first president from outside the Jakarta elite, Joko Widodo, or electing Prabowo Subianto, a former general from the era of the Suharto military dictatorship.