Indonesians living in Abuja on Sunday cast their votes to decide who will become the country’s next President.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Indonesian presidential election is slated for Wednesday across the Asian country.
However, Indonesians in more than 100 countries abroad are casting their ballots ahead of the poll.
Voting opened by 3.00 p.m. at the country’s embassy in Abuja, with a total of 46 registered voters in Abuja.
The poll also involved 179 voters in Lagos, and they are all among the two million Indonesian voters living abroad and expected to cast their votes in the presidential poll.
A total of 186 million voters are expected to take part in the Indonesian presidential election.
The election has two candidates – the Mayor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, and former military general Prabowo Subianto.
A voter in Abuja, Mr Jhony Arwan, after casting his ballot told NAN he looked forward to a leader who would transform the country economically.
“We want a leader who will give hope to all Indonesians, especially those at the grassroots.
“We want a leader who will change the negative perspectives of Indonesia as a corrupt nation,” he said.
Amb. Sudirman Haseng, the Indonesian ambassador to Nigeria, told NAN that economic growth, the fight against corruption and commodity price stability were key issues in the election.
He said they were the issues for voters in the build-up to the presidential election.
Speaking on corruption in the country, Haseng said over 100 elected officials in the government’s legislative and executive arms were jailed for various corruption-related offences in the last three years.
“The people want a leader who will continue with the fight against corruption,” he said.
NAN observed that the entire voting exercise took less than five minutes and it was organised by an election committee independent from the Indonesian Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria.
Mrs Elvisa Bhowmick, Head of the Overseas Election Committee in Abuja, appreciated the number of voters who turned out for the polls.
She however noted that many Indonesians had left Nigeria since the April 9 parliamentary elections in Abuja and Lagos and this affected the turnout of voters for the presidential poll.
She recalled that over 400 Indonesians had registered to vote in the parliamentary elections.
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