Indonesians are voting in parliamentary elections today in a crowded contest expected to see the former political party of ousted president Suharto win the most votes, but not a majority.
Nearly 600,000 polling stations opened in stages across the three time zones of the world's most populous Muslim country amid tight security. The ballot has been billed as the biggest one-day vote in history and is only Indonesia's second democratic election since Mr Suharto's fall in 1998.
A win for the Golkar party, which has sought to distance itself from the former autocrat who ruled for three decades, could badly dent President Megawati Sukarnoputri's chances of winning a second term in Indonesia's first direct presidential election on July 5th.
"The economy has suffered, the economic recovery has not yet finished. And you know the increasing of unemployment, the poverty. Everything now, the prices are high. That is why the people are not happy," said Golkar presidential candidate Akbar Tandjung as he cast his vote near his home in Jakarta.
"They know Golkar were already in power for 32 years. They know Golkar has the experience."
Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest economy and Asia's only member of the OPEC oil cartel.
Monday's results will be followed by a scramble to build coalitions before the presidential election, in which recent opinion polls show Ms Megawati has lost the status of frontrunner.