The Indonesian parliament has set June-the-seventh next year as the date for parliamentary elections which will pave the way for a new presidential contest.

The date is near the deadline set last month, and the BBC Jakarta correspondent says many of those campaigning for reform would have liked an earlier election.

Under ex-president Suharto, only three parties were allowed and his own was guaranteed to win.

But since his fall in May, more than eighty parties have sprung up, although only a minority are expected to contest the elections.

The speaker of parliament, Harmoko, says the People's Consultative Assembly -- the body with the power to elect a new president -- will meet two months after the parliamentary elections to set a timetable for doing so.