SINGAPORE -- Results of the first round of Indonesia's presidential election on July 5 indicate that the electorate has grown more sophisticated than many observers had expected -- only six years since the country emerged from decades of authoritarianism.
Six auspicious trends can be discerned after round one:
* Indonesian democracy is consolidating nicely across the archipelago. The April legislative elections -- the second such contests in the post-Suharto era -- underscored the surprisingly peaceful nature of the electoral process. Turnouts for both the presidential and legislative elections hovered around the 80 percent mark. Many Indonesians reportedly were thrilled to vote as they felt they could finally make a difference in the nation's politics.