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Indonesia election poll shows no easy PDI-P win, rise in Islamic party support

Indonesians voted for a new parliament on Wednesday with initial counts showing the main opposition party ahead but less convincingly than expected, meaning it might have to make deals with other parties to nominate its candidate for president.

In another surprise, Islamic parties appeared to have won more support than predicted. Though Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population, many analysts thought Islamic parties were losing their appeal because of graft scandals and the greater popularity of more pluralist parties.

An Indonesian woman casts her ballot paper during legislative polls in Jakarta.Adek Berry | AFP | Getty Images

The main opposition Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) had been expected to easily win enough votes to nominate popular Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, who is widely known as Jokowi, as its candidate in a July presidential election.

Opinion polls indicate Jokowi will easily win the presidential vote but early quick counts on Wednesday suggested his party might not win enough votes to let it nominate him without forming a coalition with one or more of the 11 other parties contesting the parliamentary vote.

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"Parliament is likely to be very fragmented because many parties have gotten a relatively big share of votes, and their bargaining power will be pretty much the same," said Philips Vermonte, political analyst at Jakarta-based think-tank CSIS.

"This will have a big influence on the new president because he'll have to pay attention to the situation in parliament and the many political players there."

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