There were no immediate reports of violence as polls opened this morning at a quarter of a million stations in Indonesia's first free elections since 1955. After a chaotic, exuberant campaign, largely free of violence, over 100 million voters have the opportunity to elect a 500-member parliament, the first step in selecting a new president.
President B.J. Habibie, who took over as caretaker leader when President Suharto was ousted from office last year, last night called on voters to turn out and "defeat authoritarianism". Today has been declared a national holiday throughout the vast archipelago, where most posters and flags were removed during a two-day cooling off period at the weekend.
Most independent polls show a surge of support for the opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia's Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P). She has been touring Indonesia in a propeller-driven transport plane, drawing huge crowds.
A pro-reform ally, Amien Rais, head of the National Mandate Party, or PAN, is also expected to attract considerable support. Golkar, the ruling party for nearly half a century, whose candidate for president is Mr Habibie, is said to be doing well in rural areas of the main island, Java, but is unpopular in Jakarta. Golkar also has allies among several religious-oriented Islamic parties who support Mr Habibie.
A total of 48 parties is contesting the election. The unofficial results may not be known until mid-week and the final outcome will not be published for many days as counting by hand will delay the official tally in outlying islands. Even then, it is expected to take weeks or months of manoeuvring before a consensus is reached on the name of the next president, which means that political uncertainty could continue in Indonesia throughout the summer.
Many observers in Jakarta have expressed fears that despite the lack of violence in the campaign, there was a danger that the losers would not accept the outcome. Much will depend on the post-election assessment by monitors. Already there have been accusations of the type of vote-rigging which characterised elections during President Suharto's rule.
The former US President Jimmy Carter, who is leading a team of 100 election monitors from the National Democratic Institute, hailed the lack of violence in the campaign, which involved huge rallies of flag-bearing supporters, travelling in massive convoys of revving motorcycles.
He said Indonesians had shown their commitment to democracy through a peaceful campaign. "It's been a glorious demonstration by the Indonesian people so far that they are not only committed to democracy and freedom but also committed to having a peaceful election," he said.
The Carter Centre and the National Democratic Institute are to issue their assessment of the election on Wednesday.
In Jakarta on Saturday around 300 students staged a sit-in protest calling for former president Suharto to face trial and for political parties to carry out the demands of the student movement which first called for reform last year. The students also want an end of the role of the military, which gets an automatic 38 seats in the parliament.
Meanwhile the United Nations has renewed an appeal for an end to violence in East Timor. Mr Ian Martin, the UN special representative in the former Portuguese colony, said that he was still receiving reports of violence and intimidation by armed civilian militias opposed to independence for the territory, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975.