JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has achieved a clear majority in the presidential election, voting figures showed as the leader-in-waiting worked to finalise the cabinet team he needs to fulfil high public expectations for change.
With almost 101 million votes counted so far from Monday's poll, Yudhoyono had nearly 62 million -- a majority based on turnout estimates of 123 million. With a 61.1 percent share of the vote so far, he commands a landslide lead over the 38.9 percent for incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Yudhoyono has yet to declare victory before official results due on October 4. He is keeping a relatively low profile at his private residence south of Jakarta as scores of journalists camp outside.
Behind the scenes the future leader was believed to be working hard with running mate Yusuf Kalla to assemble a cabinet capable of transforming his broad pledges of reform into eagerly awaited change.
Promises of economic transformation, as well as an end to endemic corruption and better security in the face of terrorist attacks, were key elements of the campaign which helped Yudhoyono trounce the increasingly unpopular Megawati.
The stock market Wednesday slipped back from a record high as investors cashed in gains to focus on the new cabinet, while local media engaged in heavy speculation on what shape it would take.
Potential candidates include Yudhoyono's close aide and former general Sudi Silalahi and human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis.
Also on the hot list is International Monetary Fund economist Sri Mulyani, current Finance Minister Budiono and current justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
Analysts see a strong financial team as key to rejuvenating an economy which enjoyed stability under Megawati but failed to gain the momentum needed to transform Indonesia into a regional player.
Winang Budoyo, an economist with Mandiri Sekuritas, said the Jakarta market remained optimistic Yudhoyono would appoint a professional economic team favoured by investors.
"In the long term we can be optimistic that capital will come, investment will increase and economic growth won't rely on consumption any more," he said.
Retaining members of Megawati's cabinet would also be a strategic move for Yudhoyono, who will face a struggle to implement his agenda in a parliament where his Democrat Party leads a minority coalition with only 103 of 550 seats.
Megawati, meanwhile, sits atop a four-party alliance with 307 seats dominated by the powerful Golkar, whose chairman Akbar Tanjung has already vowed to reject any cooperation with Yudhoyono's cabinet.
In a speech after the election -- the third this year in Indonesia after legislative polls won by Golkar and a presidential first round -- Yudhoyono said he wanted to close a gap between supporters of Megawati and himself.
Megawati has also kept a low profile in the wake of the vote, saying she would not concede defeat until after the official results had been declared.
However, her vice president Hamzah Haz said Wednesday she was prepared to lose the election providing the vote was declared free and fair.
On Wednesday the US-based Carter Center hailed the elections as "orderly and successful" saying they marked a watershed in the country's progress from three decades of dictatorship under Suharto to democracy.
Yudhoyono's imminent victory was already being toasted in Australia where newspapers branded the former general as a "friend of the West".
The ex-military man is favoured by the international community who see him as the best candidate to crack down on Islamic extremists blamed for three major attacks in Indonesia in the past two years.
On September 9 a suicide bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta killed nine people and injured more than 180.
The attack was blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, which has been implicated in the October 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 and a blast which killed 12 outside Jakarta's Marriott hotel in August 2003.