Brief History

The Republic of Indonesia was born on August 17, 1945.  The declaration of independence was announced by Soekarno and Hatta as revolutionary leaders in Jakarta.  The 1945 Constitution was introduced on the next day.  It consists of 37 short and vague articles.  The 1945 Constitution provides for powerful president and a very weak legislature. 
Indonesians struggle against colonialism did not end with the declaration of independence in 1945.  In the subsequent years of 1945 to 1949 revolution continued against Dutch colonial power's efforts to restore power in Indonesia.  On December 27, 1949, the Dutch formally transferred sovereignty over Indonesia.  A new constitution was introduced - the 1950 constitution - that mandated a parliamentary system with a largely ceremonial president. With the new constitution, a unicameral parliament of 232 members was formed (DPR or Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, People's Representative Council).  The parliament consisted of members from political parties and the number of representatives from each party was based on their presumed strength at that time.  A cabinet that was responsible to the parliament was formed and Soekarno was the president that only had a symbolic power as the Head of the State.

The period of 1950 to 1957 was tumultuous with administrative and social-economic problems, outbreak of dissents and violences in several parts of Indonesia.   The cabinet changed six times during this period.  Nevertheless there was a general consensus that democracy was desirable and that Indonesia is striving toward a creation of a democratic state.  The date for the first parliamentary election was set for September 1955 and another election to select a Constituent Assembly (a body to draft a permanent constitution) was fixed for December 1955.

The Election of 1955

Indonesia had its first democratic election in September 1955.   It was a multiparty election with a high turnover of 91.5 per cent of registered voters or about 39 million voters.  There were a total of 28 political parties that gained seats but only 4 that shared (roughly equal) 75 per cent of the vote.  The result was a very representative DPR but  fragile government with the largest party PNI gained only one-fourth of the votes.

The 1955 Election Result:

Source: Ricklefs, M. C., A History of Modern Indonesia since c.  1200 (3^rd edition). Standford, CA: Standford University Press, 2001.

Elections in the New Order

Soeharto Came to Power:
In September 1965 a coup attempt had resulted in the killings of several high level generals of the army.  The event was called GESTAPU (Gerakan September Tigapuluh or the 30th September Movement).  The army publicly blamed the PKI (Partai Komunis Indonesia, PKI) for the coup attempt and thus began the anticommunist movement which was directed against people associated with PKI and its organizations.   The anticommunist movement took place across the country with the worst massacres in Java and Bali.  The killings ended in the first months of 1966 but Indonesia had not seen domestic slaughter on such scale in its history.  For many Indonesians, this was indeed the nation's most shameful and unforgivable episode.

Sukarno signed a document which is known as SUPERSEMAR (from Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret or 11th March Letter of Instruction) and gave Soeharto full authority to restore order and to facilitate the functioning of the government.  The next day, on March 12, 1966, Soeharto banned the PKI and all its mass organizations.   With the Letter, Soeharto was given the authority to exercise the powers of the presidency and it marked the beginning of the New Order; Soeharto's 32 years of oppressive rule in Indonesia.

In November 1969 parliament passed an election law.  The parliament (DPR) would have 360 elected members and 100 appointed members.*  A People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will incorporate the whole members of DPR plus 207 military and functional group members appointed by the president and 131 members elected by provincial government and 10 members appointed from the less successful parties.   Overall, the government directly appointed 22 per cent of the parliament and 33 percent of the Assembly.

The New Order government announced in 1970 that all government employees must observe "monoloyalty" towards the government.  The civil servants were not allowed to join any political party but they were pressured to join GOLKAR (the Functional Groups).  This organization was established by the army in 1964 to coordinate army-civilian cooperative bodies.  GOLKAR then became the government's "vehicle" for establishing a military-bureaucratic political organization to control and maintain its power over the nation.   

In 1971 the New Order had its first election.  Ten political parties contested; nine parties from the Sukarno era and a new government "political party," GOLKAR. (see election result below) 

In 1973 Soeharto forced the nine political parties to merge into two groups.  The PPP (United Development Party or Partai Persatuan Pembangunan) consisted of four Islamic-based parties and the PDI (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, Indonesia's Democratic Party) involved the merger of five secular parties.  The government's party was GOLKAR which had produced majorities for Soeharto in all elections in the New Order era.  Starting in the election 1977, only three political parties (PDI, PPP, and GOLKAR) competed in all elections during the New Order.

Elections were conducted simultaneously for the DPR, and the first and second levels of regional DPRs.  Each voter received three different ballots: one for DPR, one for the first level of regional DPR, and one for the second level of regional DPR.   Each ballot contained only the symbols of parties.  Since the 1977, there were only three symbols in the ballot: PPP, PDI, and GOLKAR.  Each ballot was differentiated by its color.
Voter turnouts were usually high in about 80 to 70 per cent of the population eligible to vote.  Allegation of fraud was very common in the elections under the New Order government.  The allegations were commonly associated to GOLKAR's efforts to win the seats at all levels of regional and national DPR.

Elections Results (1971 - 1997 Elections)

*The number and composition of the DPR and MPR members underwent changes throughout the period of 1982 to 1999.
(a)In the 1982 election, 360 of 460 members of the DPR were directly elected.  The other 100 were appointed members from  the military. MPR had 920 members which consisted of 460 DPR members plus 460 appointed members (appointed   representatives from regional and functional groups).
(b)In the 1987 election, the number of DPR members was increased to 500 with 400 directly elected and 100 appointed military representatives.
(c)In 1997, the number of DPR's members remained 500, but the number of directly elected members increased to 425 while the military representatives was reduced to 75.  The MPR's members however increased into 1,000 with the composition of 500 DPR members and an addition of 500 members from various groups appointed by the president.

References:
Karim, M. Rusli.  Pemilu Demokratis Kompetitif.  Yogyakarta: PT. Tiara Wacana Yogya, 1991.
Liddle, R. William. Pemilu-Pemilu Orde Baru, Pasang Surut Kekuasaan Politik.   Jakarta: LP3ES, 1992
Ricklefs, M.C.  A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1200 (3rd edition). Standford, CA: Standford   University  Press, 2001.

The 1999 General Election

In 1999, three political bills were passed.  These laws are Law No. 2/1999 concerning political parties, Law No. 3/1999 concerning general elections, Law No. 4/1999 on the composition and membership of the MPR, DPR, and regional DPRs.  The main and significant difference from the previous electoral rules was that the restrictions on forming political parties were abolished and the government is not allowed to interfere into the parties' internal affairs.

There were more than 200 political parties registered, but only 48 were qualified to participate in the 1999 election.  The number of MPR's members was reduced from 1,000 to 700 with the directly elected members of DPR increased from 425 to 462.   Military representatives in DPR was also reduced from 75 to 38.  The composition of the MPR in the 1999 election was 500 DPR members plus 200 appointed members (135 representatives from regional legislatures and 65 appointed members from various social groups). 

1999 Election Result for the House of Representatives:

Adapted from: King, Dwight Y., Half-Hearted Reform  Electoral Institutions and the Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia.  London and Wesport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2003.

2004 Elections

2004 Election Result for the House of Representatives

    source: KPU, final result after Constitutional Court rulings

Result of the First Round Presidential Election on July 5^th

Registered voters: 151.010.784

Voting turnout: 80.32%

Result of the Runoff Presidential Election on September 20^th

Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi : 44.990.704 (39.38%)

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla : 69.266.350 (60.2%)

Valid votes: 114.257.054

Invalid votes: 2.405.651

Not voting: 33.981.479

Registered voters: 150.644.184

Voting turnout: 77.44%

Basic Information:

Contestants: 24 political parties.

Electoral system: open-list Proportional system (voters can cast the vote for the party only or party and candidate in the list). All voters vote for the candidates for the member of parliament (House of Representatives) in national, provincial, and district/municipal (except in Jakarta) levels. Voters also vote for the candidate of the member of regional representatives (senators). Candidates for regional representatives are independents and would be elected with plurality system for 4 top candidates in each provinces. Voters living abroad vote only for the candidates for the member of parliament in the national level from Jakarta districts. Seats will be distributed using quota (by dividing total votes in an electoral district by the number of seats contested in that district) and largest-remainder systems.

Number of registered voters: + 140 millions

Electoral threshold to compete in the next elections: 5% of national votes, or 3% of seats in the House of Representatives, or 4% seats in the Provincial House of Representatives in at least 1/2 of the provinces, or 4% seats in the Districts/Municipalities House of Representatives in at least 1/2 of the districts/municipalities.

Electoral threshold to nominate presidential candidates: for 2004 presidential elections, it is 3% of seats in the House of Representatives or 5% of national votes. For the next presidential elections, it is 15% of seats in the House of Representatives or 20% of national votes.

Presidential elections: direct election system. The winner should get at least 50% of the votes and 20% of the votes in at least half of the provinces in the first round election. If there is no winner in the first round, the runoff will be held for two top most voted candidates in the first round. The winner in the runoff will be decided by plurality system (candidate with highest votes is the winner). The first round is held on July 5^th, and the run-off election will be held on September 20^th, 2004.

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