JAKARTA -- Indonesia on Thursday completed its first peaceful leadership transition, choosing a Muslim politician with two wives to deputize for a woman he once tried to bar from the presidency because of her sex.

At the end of two days of wrangling, legislators finally picked Hamzah Haz for vice-president, just as disgraced former leader Abdurrahman Wahid bid farewell to thousands of rowdy followers in the capital Jakarta.

It was Haz and other Muslim politicians who helped block Megawati Sukarnoputri's bid for the presidency in 1999, arguing that the mostly Islamic nation could not be ruled by a woman, so allowing Wahid, a Muslim cleric, to snatch the top job.

But Megawati finally accomplished her dream of the presidency, first held by her father Sukarno, on Monday after the top legislative assembly sacked Wahid for incompetence and promoted her from the vice-presidency.

A bitter Wahid insisted his ouster was unconstitutional and predicted the troubled country would fall back into corruption and anarchy, saying he would be back.

"I will come back and continue fighting for democracy," he told a throng gathered in central Merdeka (freedom) Square which responded with cheers and gifts of bouquets of flowers.

Megawati left Jakarta on Friday for the provinces, putting the critical task of forming a coalition cabinet on hold and reinforcing perceptions that she will not be a hands-on leader.

"The cabinet will be announced next week," Bambang Kesowo, a senior aide to Megawati, told Reuters.

Officials from Megawati's party said the government could be named early next week, after officials had previously insisted it would be sooner.

Following selection of a vice president on Thursday Indonesia's power-hungry political parties are now circling for ministerial seats.

Megawati is attending various functions in West Java and parts of Sulawesi in the country's east before returning to Jakarta on Saturday. She went to East Java on Wednesday to visit the grave of her father, Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.

Officials from her party were quoted in local media on Friday as saying the cabinet would reflect all parties in Parliament apart from key economic posts, comments that will please financial markets.

Separatists in Irian Jaya Province have welcomed Megawati's appointment, but warned her not to seek a military solution to the remote and resource-rich territory. Megawati has previously made clear the archipelago can only have one political master.

Megawati will also need to tackle a judiciary riddled with corruption and influence-peddling. In a reminder of that mess, a gunman on Thursday shot dead the judge who last year sentenced the youngest son of former President Suharto to jail for graft.

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday telephoned Megawati and congratulated her on the peaceful transfer of power and stressed U.S. commitment to help Indonesia.