Early ballot counts of the second direct presidential election in Indonesia on July 8 showed that the incumbent president would likely win a single-round victory with 58 percent of the vote.

After polls closed, an unofficial quick count at 2,000 polling stations with more than half of ballots tallied gave President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 58 percent of the vote, which would be enough to avoid a runoff in September.

Megawati Sukarnoputri, a former president whose father was the first leader of Indonesia , was second at 27 percent, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla trailing at 15 percent.

The preliminary result was based on ballots from all 33 provinces and was conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle , which has accurately forecast previous elections, and was broadcast by TVOne television. An official result is to be released by the National Election Commission by July 27.

Another poll broadcast by MetroTV gave the liberal ex-general, Yudhoyono, 58.51 percent of the vote, compared to 26.32 percent for opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and 15.18 percent for outgoing Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Another “quick count” poll broadcast by TV One gave Yudhoyono 60.1 percent, with Megawati on 27.33 and Kalla on 12.58.

These results all agree with the earlier prediction made by the Indonesian Survey Circle that Yudhoyono would win more than 50 percent of the popular vote and the other two candidates would garner less than 30 percent each./.