20 September 2004	Monday	04 Shaban 1425

JAKARTA, Sept 19: Indonesians cast their ballots Monday in the country's first democratic presidential election in a vote which will cap months of polls and finally consign decades of dictatorship to history.

In polls overshadowed by a recent terrorist bomb attack on Australia's embassy in Jakarta which killed nine people, incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri will face her former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono won an initial ballot on July 5 and has consistently led opinion polls which say his polished appearance and common touch has swayed support from the taciturn Megawati in a contest as much about personality as policies.

Official campaigning for Monday's election has been restricted to three days during which voters were bombarded with commercials and treated to televised discussions in which the two candidates laid out their agendas. -AFP