Indonesian parliamentary elections underway

Eurasia News

JAKARTA: Indonesians began casting their votes for national and local parliamentary representatives on Wednesday, while it is expected that the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will win most of the votes.

Some 187 million people in the South East Asian country are eligible to vote, with about 22 million people voting for the first time.

The elections will determine which parties would nominate candidates for the July 9 presidential vote.

The parties need to secure 20 percent of seats in parliament or 25 percent of the total vote to be able to field their candidates in the presidential vote. If the parties fail to meet the threshold, they should form or enter a coalition to field their candidates for the upcoming vote.

The PDI-P candidate for presidential election Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, is seen by many people as the country’s next president.