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P>President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday evening said he was "thankful to God and thankful to friends" who supported his reelection bid as he reacted to unofficial tallies that gave him a resounding victory over his rivals.

Speaking at his residence in Cikeas, near Jakarta, the president expressed gratitude "to all Indonesians for voting and ensuring the election ran securely and smoothly."

While the offi cial results from the General Election Commission (KPU) are not expected until July 25, various polling bodies show similar results in their quick counts with the incumbent receiving more than 60 percent of the total vote.

The April 9 legislative election quick counts have thus far proven to be indicative of the final results.

According to the Indonesian Survey Institute, an estimated 72.5 percent of the 176.4 million eligible voters fl ocked to the 450,000-plus polling stations across the country in an election, which went smoothly without major incident.

Earlier fears of problems with unregistered voters were largely mitigated after a Constitutional Court ruling on Monday allowed them to vote simply by bringing official ID cards.

A relieved KPU Chief Abdul Hafiz Anshary was all smiles as the electoral disasters many feared could have happened did not materialize, saying the KPU had not received any reports of major disturbances, security or otherwise, during the voting process.

"The success of this election is the success of the people," he told journalists at the KPU office in Jakarta, on Wednesday evening.

"Despite whatever the other counting methods have shown, the official result will come from the manual ballot count."

Manual counting will take place July 20-24.

Separately, Kalla said he appreciated the results of the quick counts but would wait until the official tally is announced before conceding defeat.

He claimed that reports from his team in certain local areas showed higher results of votes for him than the tally from the quick count.

The Megawati-Probowo camp seemed to be more defiant, with the vice presidential hopeful questioning the slew of quick counts aired on television suggesting he had lost.

"Airing exit polls is a criminal act.

"I would also like to remind television station owners that they are being irresponsible and *their actions* are not benefitting Indonesians," he told Kompas.com.

He added a separate quick count result from a less cited source, the Indonesia Development Monitoring, gave his pairing a tally of 38.83 percent of the vote compared to SBY with 30.35 percent and Kalla's 31.92 percent.