JAKARTA, July 5: Retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took the lead on Monday in Indonesia's first direct presidential election that strengthened democracy in the world's most populous Muslim country after decades of authoritarian rule.

Bambang Yudhoyono was projected to win 34 per cent of the votes-not enough to avoid a second round run-off election on Sept 20, an independent count of votes showed. A representative sample of votes by the US-based National Democratic Institute and a local research organization showed President Megawati Sukarnoputri won 25 per cent, while another retired general, Wiranto, took 24 per cent.

That margin was too small to say for certain who Mr Yudhoyono would face in the run-off, said the group, whose projections have been highly accurate in the past. From primitive tribesmen in far eastern Papua province and Hindu farmers in Bali to trendy Jakarta office workers and beleaguered residents of strife-torn Aceh in the west, Indonesians turned out in force for the landmark election.

Unofficial reports put turnout at more than 80 percent, with voters expressing delight about directly electing their president six years after the fall of long-time autocrat Suharto.

Opinion polls ahead of election day had shown Mr Yudhoyono, who resigned as Ms Megawati's security minister in March and is backed by a small, new party, with a commanding 20 to 30 per cent lead over his four rivals.

But Wiranto, the candidate of the largest party in parliament, and Megawati had formidable campaign machines that turned out their voters. A number of ballots were incorrectly punched due to confusion over the folded ballot paper, said Gunawan Hidayat, national coordinator for the People Voter Education Network, which deployed 100,000 monitors.

The election commission ordered them counted as valid and Chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin saw few irregularities. -Reuters