Indonesians vote in key elections

Indonesians have voted in parliamentary elections - the third such poll since democracy was introduced a decade ago.

The ballot was largely peaceful, with more than 170 million eligible voters across the country's 17,000 islands.

However, at least six people died in violence in Papua province, where there is an active separatist movement.

Nearly 40 parties contested the election, with the Democrat Party led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expected to do well.

The ballot also decides who can run for president in elections scheduled for July.

A party or coalition that wins a fifth of the parliamentary seats can nominate a presidential candidate.

Irregularities

The polls closed at midday (0500 GMT) on Thursday, although election officials said people still queuing would be allowed to cast their ballot.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta says there were lots of worries about this election - fears of violence in some provinces and fears of electoral fraud in others.

But, she says, reports that have come in so far are mostly talking about minor procedural issues rather than serious disruption to the vote itself.

In the newly-autonomous province of Aceh, where several political activists have been killed recently, voting appears to have been calm.

But there was violence overnight in the easternmost province of Papua, where groups attacked buildings including a police station.

Tensions were high amid growing calls for Papuan independence ahead of the ballot. The Papuan police chief said the incidents were aimed at "sabotaging" the poll.

The main issue for many other Indonesians was the economy, along with endemic corruption.

Exports are falling, foreign investment is drying up and millions of poor Indonesians are struggling to stay above the poverty line - in what is south-east Asia's biggest economy.

This time people were able to vote directly for members of parliament, not parties, our correspondent says, which has made for a heated - and more expensive - campaign.

But with hundreds of candidates, some voters may find the process confusing - and arguments about the voting process and the count are expected, she says.

"There were too many ballot papers and we didn't recognise the faces or candidates," Rivaldi Aswin, a 25-year-old bank clerk, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The parliamentary elections may also provide a useful litmus test of whether politics in Indonesia, the world's largest majority Muslim country, are becoming more Islamic, analysts say.

This is only the third general election since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, after which Indonesia made the transition to democracy.