At least one province is asking for last Monday's general election to be held again, and there have been calls from several other parts of the country for some stages of the election to be repeated.

With over 40% of votes counted, Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)is maintaining a clear lead.

The BBC's Jonathan Head: Serious allegations of fraud

Parties are beginning to discuss forming coalitions once the results are announced.

A total of 48 parties contested Monday's poll, which is regarded as the first truly democratic election in Indonesia for 44 years.

Call for new poll

PDI-P 36% Golkar 20.2% PKB 12.4% PPP 10.4% PAN 7.8% PBB 2.1% % votes counted 49.1%

The official election committee in north Sulawesi province has asked for the election to be re-run there because of alleged malpractices by the ruling Golkar party.

There are also allegations of vote-buying and intimidation by Golkar in South Sulawesi.

In the capital, Jakarta, most of the parties have called for the votes to be recounted.

Coalition threat to Megawati

Ballot boxes have been under guard for nearly a week

BBC Jakarta Correspondent Jonathan Head says that possible recounts or repeated polling are unlikely to make a significant difference to Megawati's lead.

However, with Golkar still heading for 20% of the vote and smaller parties set to pick up a further 20%, it is possible that a coalition could be formed to keep Megawati out of power.

To avoid that scenario, Megawati will have to form a stronger coalition. She already has an alliance with the moderate Muslim National Awakening Party.

But another possible partner, Amien Rais's National Mandate Party, says it will only join her if she agrees to a new constitution and to much greater autonomy for the regions - something which Megawati has opposed until now.

Vote counting has continued slowly over the six days since the polls closed.

The Jakarta-based election commission had promised to publish substantial results within two days of the vote.