The election for the new governor of Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, will be decided in a run-off vote on April 19, said the country’s election authorities last week.

Incumbent Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.(Photo:VNA)

In the first round held on February 15, incumbent governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama held a narrow lead of about 43 percent while former Minister of Education and Culture Anies Baswedan came second with 40%.

According to head of Jakarta election commission Sumarno, a run-off will be held between these two because no candidate reached more than 50% of votes.

More than 7.1 million Indonesians voted at some 13,000 polling stations in the first round of the election.

Purnama, the city's first non-Muslim governor for half a century and its first ethnic
Chinese, has been on trial for comments he made about the Quran that were deemed insulting to Islam and Muslims, triggering widespread public protests since October last year.

The vote is seen as a test of whether pluralism and a tolerant brand of Islam in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country are being eroded.

(Source: VNA)