Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling Golkar party was cruising towards its forecast landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Thursday after about half the votes were counted.
Figures announced by election officials at 3:30 a.m. Friday (2030 GMT) with over 59 million votes counted said Golkar had 74.99 percent of the vote, the Moslem-oriented United Development Party (PPP) 22.29 percent and the badly-split Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) 2.72 percent.
Based on past election patterns of a turnout of about 90 percent, the number of votes counted represented more than half of all ballots cast. Election officials said most results would be known by Friday evening.
Nearly 125 million people were eligible to vote in the national and local elections and polling was generally peaceful after a 27-day campaign that proved to be the most violent in Indonesia in three decades.
But police said 13 people were killed overnight in the troubled territory of East Timor when rebels tried to disrupt the polls and a soldier was killed there on Thursday while guarding a poll booth.
Golkar won 68 percent of the vote in 1992 in the last elections and had been aiming for just above 70 percent this time. The PPP had 17 percent in 1992 and the PDI 15 percent.
The announced results also showed Golkar well ahead in voting for regional and local assemblies. The three parties were the only ones permitted to contest the elections.
Most of the earlier political violence, mainly between partisans of golkar and the PPP, was centred on Java island, where 60 percent of Indonesia's 200 million people live.
Political analysts have expressed concern that PPP supporters might not accept the election outcome if they were swamped in areas such as Jakarta and central Java where they regard themselves as strong.
"It seems to have been very calm and orderly," one Asian diplomat said, adding it appeared Golkar could be headed for a landslide in Jakarta.
Markets shrugged off the election in slow trade on Thursday, with the rupiah stable at 2,441.50 to the dollar and the stock market index jumping two percent on blue chip buying. In East Timor, police chief Colonel Yusuf Muharam said a soldier guarding a polling booth was shot dead, bringing to 14 the number of deaths in the territory since Wednesday night.
He said police shot dead four rebels in a clash in the centre of the regional capital of Dili on Wednesday night during an attempt to disrupt the elections.
He said rebels shot dead at least seven civilians in the town of Los Palos and two in Baucau in separate attacks on Wednesday as opponents of the government destroyed a number of polling booths.
The rebels are fighting Indonesian rule in East Timor, which Jakarta took over in 1975 and incorporated as Indonesia's 27th province the following year. The move has never been recognised by the United Nations.
Voters were electing 425 members to the 500-seat House of Representatives and were also choosing regional and local assemblies. The other 75 parliamentary seats are filled by the military which does not vote.
But political analysts say the key election is next March when President Suharto, 75, is widely expected to stand for a seventh five-year term. There is keen interest in his choice of running mate and thus potential successor.