President Yudhoyono seen a poll favorite

JAKARTA, July 7 (UPI) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, seeking a second term, headed into Indonesia's presidential poll as the favorite.

Some 170 million registered voters Wednesday would decide whether Yudhoyono would lead them again, or pick one of his opponents -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla or former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Indonesia, with a population of more than 240 million, is the fourth largest country in the world after China, India and the United States.

Yudhoyono, who defeated Sukarnoputri in the 2004 runoff elections in the country's first direct presidential election, maintained his strong lead in opinion polls, campaigning on achievements that helped the country's economy to grow amid the global economic downturn, the BBC reported.

The report said most polls show Yudhoyono and his running mate, Boediono, would win in the first round with 52 percent to 67 percent of the vote.

Kalla, Yodhoyono's vice president and head of the Golkar Party in the coalition government, had projected himself during campaigning as a more decisive leader.

Sukarnoputri, who leads the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which played a role in securing Indonesian independence from the Dutch colonialists, is the daughter of Sukarno, the country's first president.

A Voice of America report said there had been numerous complaints of vote fraud such as duplicate names, and children and dead people's names appearing on voter lists. Despite claims by the election commission that the problems had been resolved, the report said concerns about the legitimacy of the votes remained.