JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's capital voted for a new governor on Thursday, with exit polls showing the challenger was likely to take control of one of the world's largest, and most congested, cities which could give him a chance at the presidency in two years' time.
Two exit polls showed challenger Joko Widodo leading with about 54 percent. Joko, popularly known as Jokowi, was also ahead of incumbent Fauzi Bowo, a German-educated city planning expert, in the first round.
There has been speculation that if Joko has won, he might use his victory as a platform to run for president in 2014 when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must step down after two terms and for which there is still no clear front runner.
There have been some calls by prominent Muslims to vote for candidates who practice that religion, taken as implied encouragement not to vote for Joko, whose running mate, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, is Christian and ethnic Chinese.
There is a long history of resentment of minority ethnic Chinese who are often seen as having a disproportionate share of Indonesia's wealth.
"The people of Jakarta need changes. I don't care if one of the candidates is ethnic Chinese. The important thing is that he can make a change for Jakarta," said Refy Zaky as he voted in Kabon Kacang, central Jakarta.
"In my opinion, regardless of the fact that the winner will be Jokowi or Fauzi Bowo in the next election, the real winner is Prabowo," says Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a director of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), a polling firm.
Like Widodo, Prabowo has carved out a niche as a populist and charismatic candidate among an uninspiring field. But he has suffered from being widely loathed in the Chinese community over his alleged role in the 1998 violence. And without at least having some of Indonesia's wealthy Chinese community onside, Prabowo faces a huge challenge against other competitors in 2014, a field which so far consists of himself and Aburizal Bakrie, a tycoon who owns everything from a TV news channel to the Brisbane Roar football team. By backing Widodo's Chinese running mate, Basuki, Prabowo has succeeded in clearing a lot of bad blood with the Chinese business community, Muhtadi says. Joko concedes that as his own star rises, so does that of Prabowo.
