Golkar, the former party of ousted Indonesian president Suharto, won last month's parliamentary elections with 21.6 per cent of the vote, the General Election Commission said today.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) party came second, winning 18.5 per cent of the vote, the commission said in an announcement of final results.
With no party having close to a majority in parliament, the stage is set for Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, to continue with a coalition government after a new president is elected in July.
In the race for president both Golkar's nominee, ex-military chief Wiranto, and Ms Megawati are lagging in opinion polls behind another former general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, candidate of the small Democrat Party.
The allocation of seats in the 550-member parliament of the world's most populous Muslim country would be announced later on Wednesday, officials said.
In the last elections in 1999, Golkar won 22.5 per cent of the vote and PDI-P 33.7 per cent. PDI-P has been the most powerful party in the current ruling coalition.
Indonesia votes for a president on July 5th. All three main candidates are secular nationalists and have roughly similar platforms pledging continued economic reform.
If no candidate wins a majority on July 5th, when several other parties may field nominees as well, there will be a run-off on September 20th.
The results announced today were roughly in line with partial counts released by the commission. The commission said turnout was more than 80 per cent of some 148 million eligible voters.