World’s biggest single-day election

Love for the nation: Women decorating with heart-shape balloons for Valentine’s Day at a polling station in Denpasar, Bali. Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, opens its polls today to nearly 205 million eligible voters in presidential and legislative elections, the fifth since South-East Asia’s largest economy began democratic reform in 1998. — AP

THE nation’s authorities were making final preparations ahead of today’s election, with around 25,000 police set to ensure security in a contest seen as a test of democratic gains made since the end of authoritarian rule 25 years ago.

Outgoing President Joko Widodo has presided over steady growth and relative stability in the past decade in the mineral-rich Group of 20 economy of 270 million people, establishing it as a future base for multinationals in the electric vehicle supply chain.