June 3, 1999
Web posted at: 1:46 a.m. EDT (0546 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) - Indonesia's capital came to a virtual standstill on Thursday as one of the most popular parties contesting Monday's election held its final round of campaigning.

Colorful convoys packed with tens of thousands of red-clad Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle faithful thronged Jakarta's streets, waving flags, tooting horns, banging drums and yelling support for party idol and leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Megawati, who polls show is a front-runner for presidential elections later in the year, was due to speak to a mass rally of supporters later in the day.

Megawati, the daughter of founding Indonesia president Sukarno, is widely viewed as the front-runner in the race.

PDI-P is expected to win one of the biggest bloc of seats in the new 500-member parliament to be elected on Monday and has a strong chance of forming a coalition government with other reformist parties to topple the ruling Golkar party.

Golkar is tarnished by its links with ousted President Suharto and may get as little as 10 percent of the vote -- a far cry from its guaranteed landslide wins in the stage-managed elections of Suharto's 32-year rule.

But analysts have not written Golkar off completely, saying its massive resources and extensive network could give it enough votes to form a coalition, possibly with Muslim parties.

In a bid to head off clashes between rival parties, each party has rostered campaigning days.

Campaigning ends on Friday, when Golkar and other minor parties take to the streets before a two-day cooling off period.

Muslim groups call for Muslim-only votes

Two leading Indonesian Islamic groups called on Muslim voters Thursday to cast ballots only for Muslim-based parties in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Islamic-based groups comprise almost one-third of Indonesia's new political parties and have played a vital role in the nation's new political atmosphere after reign of Suharto.

On Thursday, the influential Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) and another Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, directed Muslims to vote only for Islamic-based political parties in the elections.

There was some speculation that the announcement was a move against Megawati's party and its nationalist and secular platform.

National Mandate Party (PAN) leader Amien Rais was the former chairman of Muhammaydiyah. But the group's secretary, Muchlas Abror, denied the statement was a covert endorsement for PAN.

Rais himself warned that the directive could divide the country as it prepares for it freest elections in over three decades.

"I think parties must stick together and avoid polarization," Rais told the Jakarta Post.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.