Muslim Jakarta governor candidate ahead in election, early count shows

Former Indonesian education minister, Anies Baswedan, was slightly ahead of Jakarta's incumbent Christian governor in the race to lead the Indonesian capital, unofficial early counting by a private pollster showed on Wednesday.

Baswedan had secured 51.93 percent of the votes, just ahead of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as "Ahok", on 48.07 percent, based on a quick sample count of around 5 percent of the vote by Indikator Politik.

A candidate needs a simple majority to win. The national elections commission will announce official results in early May.

The Jakarta poll has been overshadowed by religious tensions, with mass Islamist-led protests against Purnama, and is being widely seen as a proxy battle for the presidential election in 2019.