Indonesians Go to the Polls
July 8th, 2009
Polls closed on Wednesday in Indonesia’s presidential election, and unofficial ballot counts put incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono well beyond the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff in September. So far, there have been no reports of major disruptions at the 450,000 polling stations set up across thousands of Indonesia’s islands. Yesterday, as Indonesians began casting their ballots, The Asia Foundation’s Senior Director of Programs in Indonesia, Sandra Hamid, blogged about the historical significance of this election.