Indonesia's parliament yesterday elected Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's founding leader, as the fourth president in as many turbulent years, sacking her predecessor for incompetence.
The supreme People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) removed President Abdurrahman Wahid just hours after he declared a state of emergency and tried to dissolve the legislature in a desperate predawn attempt to hold on to power.
World leaders, including President Bush, quickly endorsed Ms Megawati because of her democratic credentials and expressed the hope the country would enter a period of stability.
Mr Wahid also had a reputation as one of Indonesia's leading democrats, gained by his opposition to the former autocrat, Suharto, but his increasingly muddled rule was seen as a liability to the country.
As the MPR decided his fate yesterday, Mr Wahid was confined behind wire barricades in the presidential palace where aides said he laughed and joked over lunch and refused to leave.
His adviser and confidant told Australian radio, however, that Mr Wahid accepted his fate, but was in a state of shock.
"There is, of course, a rather sombre mood," biographer and academic Greg Barton said. "It's a sad acceptance of what now appears to be inevitable."
The world's fourth most populous nation, ruled by autocrats for most of its history, has never had a peaceful transition of power. But there were no immediate signs of unrest yesterday.
Troops were mostly absent from the streets of the capital, although two columns of tanks and armoured personnel carriers rumbled through Jakarta in the morning.
Early in the evening Mr Wahid, smiling and wearing shorts, a T-shirt and sandals, appeared briefly on the steps of the palace to wave to about 300 supporters gathered peacefully outside. He said nothing.
After taking the oath of office, Ms Megawati read a seven minute speech urging all sides to accept her election.
"I call on all parties to accept this democratic process. This is the voice of the people which we must uphold," she said, dressed in a traditional white blouse and a batik sarong. "Let us build our country together, let us erase all the fights among us which have only deepened the sorrow of the people."
The United States, Japan and other Asian nations quickly threw their weight behind her. Mr Bush, speaking to reporters in Italy, said he looked forward to working with Ms Megawati.
Japan's Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, pledged support for the new President, and in Hanoi the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) recognised her as the new leader.
The European Union said earlier it was ready to help Indonesia to achieve economic and political stability.
The leadership crisis which has virtually paralysed the nation for months has raised fears of a return of the bloodshed that surrounded Suharto's downfall in 1998. But the streets were quiet yesterday.
Before the vote, Mr Wahid likened his struggle to a jihad, or Islamic holy war, saying his emergency declaration was intended to save the state.
He refused to attend the MPR hearing and remained defiant.
The change in leadership also cheered the country's financial markets. The beleaguered rupiah rose more than 10 per cent and stocks hit a 10-month high.
There was no sign of unrest, either in Jakarta or in Mr Wahid's political heartland of East Java where Muslim leaders ordered his fanatical supporters not to protest.
It is those supporters, some of whom have formed suicide squads, who many fear could turn violent and throw the country back into the widespread bloodshed which has usually marked a change of ruler in Indonesia.