JAKARTA, April 5: Vote counting was in full swing in Indonesia on Monday after the world's most populous Muslim nation held elections expected to see the former political party of ousted strongman Suharto win most votes , but not a majority.

Tens of thousands of police deployed during voting at 600,000 polling booths for the parliamentary poll, where voters struggled with newspaper-size ballots to choose from dozens of parties and hundreds of candidates.

The election for parliament and local legislatures was billed as history's biggest one-day vote, and was only Indonesia's second democratic poll since Mr Suharto's fall in 1998.

Opinion polls show incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle in danger of losing their grip on power as many people yearn for the firm leadership and rapid economic growth that marked Mr Suharto's 32-year rule.

"This country needs stern law enforcement to eradicate poverty and deliver justice for all," said Yanti Subani, a 55-year-old housewife voting in Jakarta. Late on Monday, counting was well under way but results had only begun to trickle in. It could be one or two days before meaningful results are known.

A win for the Golkar party - which has sought to distance itself from the former autocrat who ruled for three decades while taking credit for economic growth then - could badly dent Ms Megawati's chances of winning a second term in Indonesia's first direct presidential election on July 5.

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.

A TEST: Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation with 220 million people, has been put to the test in recent years by religious violence, separatist war, bomb attacks by Islamic militants, ineffective government and rampant corruption. -Reuters