Jakarta - Indonesia's opposition Democracy Party-Struggle (PDIP) yesterday was confirmed as the solid front-runner in the final tally of votes in the June 7th elections, but the poll "victory" did not assure the party would gain power.
The PDIP, led by Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri (52), the popular nationalist daughter of the country's founding president, Dr Sukarno, emerged with 33.7 per cent of the more than 105 million valid votes tallied. The ruling Golkar party was well behind in second place.
The presidency will be decided in November by the country's highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Unless Ms Megawati can gain enough coalition partners by then, she could still find herself - and her party - in the opposition.
