JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Parliament elected an ailing but revered Muslim moderate as Indonesia's new leader Wednesday, infuriating a rival candidate's supporters, who flooded into the streets in violent protest.
The demonstrators threw rocks and gasoline bombs at police and lit a huge convention center on fire in the capital, Jakarta. Police responded with tear gas and warning shots.At least one person was killed by what appeared to be a car bomb, and dozens were injured in the chaos surrounding the election of Abdurrahman Wahid (pronounced Ahb-door-RAH-man Wah-heed). Wahid was sworn in as president hours after the vote.
Wahid, 59, outmaneuvered his popular rival, Megawati Sukarnoputri, who had been considered the front-runner in the race to lead the world's fourth-most populous country as it struggled to recover from its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Megawati's party won most -- but not a majority -- of the votes cast in June 7 parliamentary elections. Megawati, an inexperienced politician who was running for office for the first time, was unable to shepherd enough support in the 700-member People's Consultative Committee, composed of new parliamentarians and government and military appointees.
The assembly chose Wahid by a vote of 373 to 313, with five abstentions, in the first free and contested election for a head of state in Indonesia's 54 years of independence.
"Together with Megawati I celebrate our independence and freedom," said Wahid, better known by his nickname, Gus Dur.
Conservative Muslims had opposed Megawati, arguing that a woman should not run the country, the world's largest Islamic nation.
Megawati appealed for calm in the wake of the vote.
"For the unity of the nation, I call on the people of Indonesia to accept the results of the election," Megawati said in Parliament after singing the national anthem with Wahid and hundreds of other legislators.
But at least 10,000 of her supporters took to the streets, attacking security forces with rocks and flaming bottles of gasoline after they were prevented from marching on Parliament.
"The people wanted Mega. Now there will be a revolution," said one supporter, who identified himself by the single name of Ita.
Gunfire erupted at several points around the city. Gangs of looters also were roaming and trying to hijack cars.
As night fell on the city, the protesters torched a nearby toll booth, then managed to set the concrete-walled Jakarta Convention Center on fire. Smoke poured from the massive building, and nearby trees burst into flames.
The protesters were security guards in black and red uniforms who had been recruited by Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle. There were no immediate moves to extinguish the blaze.
Hospitals said at least 18 people, including two soldiers, were injured when a car exploded about 600 yards from the legislature. Police confirmed at least one fatality.
Before the vote, five people were injured at the city's main traffic circle when a homemade bomb exploded in a flower pot.
A third explosion occurred after dark on the toll road near Parliament, sending a huge cloud of black smoke wafting into the air. No injuries were reported.
Fighting also broke out among rival protesters. Other gangs vandalized cars and shops. Violence had been predicted to follow the vote, and many office buildings closed before it erupted.
Some 30,000 supporters of outgoing President B.J. Habibie protested on his home island of Sulawesi.
Habibie withdrew as a candidate Wednesday after the assembly dealt him a humiliating defeat by rejecting his speech defending the 16 months he spent in office since taking over from authoritarian President Suharto.
Financial markets rose sharply after Habibie dropped out, then fell when Wahid was elected, with some analysts saying they were concerned about his poor health and lack of specific economic policies.
The JXS Composite Stock Index, which jumped 10.1 percent before the vote count, fell by 2.4 percent after Wahid won and closed 0.13 percent higher. Trading was stopped half an hour early because the market was overloaded with activity.
Wahid has called for tolerance and cooperation among all religions in this diverse country and supports the continued separation of religion and government. He visited Israel several years ago, a move criticized by other Indonesian Muslim leaders.
Wahid said during the campaign that he would continue to introduce democracy and adopt economic reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund as part of its bailout program for the battered economy.
Indonesia's powerful military said it would stand behind Wahid. The assembly was expected to select a vice president Thursday.
Some observers have questioned Wahid's suitability, pointing to the fact that he has suffered two strokes in recent years and is nearly blind.
Habibie was appointed in May 1998 when Suharto stepped down after more than three decades of iron-fisted rule amid bloody riots and pro-democracy protests.
For decades, the assembly has been largely a rubber-stamp operation, playing its role in well-orchestrated elections and legislative actions but unable to show independence.
Democratic reforms instituted by Habibie paved the way for the free Parliamentary elections, but the moves were not enough to save the former Suharto protege's political career.
In the Parliamentary election, Megawati's party won 34 percent of the vote to 12 percent for Wahid's National Awakening Party.