Voters in Indonesia are taking part in the first nationwide regional elections to choose local leaders.

Polls opened at 7:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday and final results are expected to be announced on December 18.

Some 100 million eligible voters are set to elect nine governors and 260 district heads and mayors in a vote held simultaneously across half of Indonesia’s constituencies.

The rest of the country will cast ballots in similar elections in 2017 and 2018.

Simultaneous nationwide elections are rare in Indonesia as the country stretches across three time zones from Sumatra island in the west and Papua in the east. Election officials hope to hold the local elections across the country at the same time in near future, as it would make the system more efficient and save money.

Some 200,000 police and security personnel have been deployed to the polling stations to secure the elections.

Indonesia’s central government relinquished power to regional level following the resignation of the the second president of Indonesia, Suharto, in 1998. The decentralization gave local leaders further power to implement democratic reforms and propose regional budgets and bills and also plan their own economic projects and programs.

The local leaders also have the power to influence the central government’s economic plans in order to focus more on undeveloped regions to help revive the country’s economy.