JAKARTA – Indonesians have cast ballots in a bitterly fought election to govern the capital, Jakarta, that has inflamed religious tensions in the Muslim-majority nation and been tied to power struggles ahead of presidential elections in 2019.

The job of governor can be a springboard to the presidency and weeks of campaigning have been overshadowed by mudslinging, political intrigue and rising hardline Islamist sentiment, raising questions about the role of religion in politics.

Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population but is officially secular and home to minority Christian and Hindu communities, as well as hundreds of ethnic groups.

“I do hope that there will be no more related political and religious tensions after this election,” said Hanida Syafriani, a resident of East Jakarta who was supporting the Christian, ethnic Chinese incumbent, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

Voting in the capital, alongside scores of other regional polls in the world’s third-largest democracy, were peaceful and mostly running without hitches, police said.

Police deployed 75,000 personnel across Indonesia with 16,000 in Jakarta, concerned hardline Muslim groups may again take to the streets to oppose Purnama. Islamist protests rocked Jakarta during the campaign, attracting hundreds of thousands.

Purnama, or Ahok as he is commonly known, is running against two Muslim candidates and the vote is widely expected to go to a second round.

Purnama has been campaigning while on trial on a charge of insulting the Koran, a case that has brought Muslims onto the streets, urging voters to shun a non-Muslim as leader.

He denies the charge and his support has rebounded to lead many opinion polls, which analysts attribute to his record of improving the bureaucracy and easing congestion and flooding.

“Some of my Muslim friends do believe he blasphemed and won’t vote for a non-Muslim, the case has created differences among us,” said Deny S. Pamudji, 57, an ethnic Chinese voter, who spoke outside a polling station just before Purnama cast his ballot.

Purnama’s rivals are Agus Yudhoyono, a son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and former education minister Anies Baswedan.

Purnama was a deputy to President Joko Widodo when he was the previous Jakarta governor and Widodo’s party is backing him.

Baswedan is backed by a former general who Widodo beat in the last presidential election in 2014, Prabowo Subianto, who is promising a comeback to the national stage.

“We hope that everybody can return as a family after these elections,” President Widodo said after voting in Jakarta.

– Reuters