Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party clung to a slim lead today following parliamentary elections with less than 1 per cent of the vote counted.
Ms Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) leads, winning 19 per cent of the ballots so far counted, followed closely by the party of former president Abdurrahman Wahid with 18 per cent. Golkar, the former vehicle of ousted autocrat Suharto, is third, with 15 per cent.
Investors shrugged off the excruciatingly slow vote tally, as they pushed the Jakarta stock market up more than 2 per cent in morning trade. Election observers said any reliable indication of the winner from the official count could take as long as a week.
The result of yesterday's election in the world's most populous Muslim nation will shape the race for the country's first direct presidential vote in July amid a scramble to build coalitions.
Most opinion polls ahead of the vote showed Golkar likely to unseat Ms Megawati's party as the biggest in parliament, although without a majority, as many yearn for the firm leadership and rapid economic growth that marked Suharto's 32-year rule.
They also show the incumbent president trailing her former security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the presidential race. Yudhoyono's Democrat Party was running fourth in the early count, which was considered strong given its status as a new party.