Indonesia is set to hold its legislative and presidential elections all on the same day, Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

And by 3pm Jakarta time (4pm Singapore time), the country with the largest Muslim population in the world will have a better sense of who their next president is.

Although official election results will only be released progressively from April 25 to May 22, according to Bernama, unofficial quick count results will be available a few hours after polling closes.

How does quick count work?

Polling agencies will look at a sample of ballots after polling ends to estimate the overall vote.

According to Tempo, 40 certified pollsters are allowed to release the quick count results.

Quick count results are different from exit polls, which is a survey of voters as they leave the polling station.

The latter is less reliable as it depends first and foremost on the voters' willingness in declaring their choice.

Are quick count results reliable?

While there are more than 800,000 polling stations, samples will only be taken from a few thousand polling stations, according to New Mandala.

This does not mean quick count results cannot give an accurate picture of the official results.

As the samples are chosen at random, a good distribution of votes across the country and the least amount of bias in the result can be ensured.

Quick count results are also largely proven to be accurate in past elections.

Furthermore, there is a way to know if the quick count results are accurate.

According to Jakarta Globe, quick count results can be trusted as long as the numbers show a candidate winning a simple majority of over 50 percent, with a percentage margin that is way beyond the quick counts' margin of error.

Day in the life of an Indonesian voter

Polling stations will open to registered voters at 7am Jakarta time (8am Singapore time) on April 17.

Voters then have up to 1pm to cast their ballots for five different levels of government.

The entire process is a quick one and only takes a couple of minutes.

And as long as voters get in the queue before 1pm, they can cast their vote even after polls close at 1pm.

Thereafter, the votes will be manually counted.

Mainstream pollsters in Indonesia have projected a victory for the incumbent, Joko Widodo.

However, there could be factors that might lead to unexpected results.

For example, the large proportion of young voters choosing to abstain from voting can potentially swing the final results in the direction of Widodo's rival, Prabowo Subianto.

Newly elected lawmakers will be inaugurated on Oct. 1, while the new president and vice-president will be inaugurated on Oct. 20.

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