According to the 2008 election law, only parties or coalitions controlling 20% of DPR seats or winning 25% of the popular votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections are eligible to nominate a candidate. This law was challenged in the Constitutional Court,[5] but in late January 2014, the court ruled that the requirement would stand for this election.[6] No party exceeded the threshold in the 2014 legislative elections; therefore, two coalitions were formed.
Electoral system
Arrangements for the conduct of elections in Indonesia are carried out under the supervision of the KPU.[7] The presidential elections in 2014 were carried out under the 2008 election law (Undang-undang, orUU) No. 42 on the election of a president and vice president.[8]
Arrangements for nominations An important requirement, set out in Law No. 42 of 2008 (Clause 9), is that nominations of candidates for the presidential election may only be made by a party (or coalition of parties) which has at least 20% of the seats in the national parliament (the DPR, or the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) or which received 25% of national votes in the previous national legislative election for the DPR. In practice, these conditions set a rather high bar for nomination. The likelihood is that only candidates supported by one of the major parties, perhaps with some support from several of the minor parties, will be able to meet the conditions for nomination. Among other things, the effect of this requirement is likely to be a strict limit on the number of candidates who will be able to stand for the presidency.
However, the system was not ready for the election. Therefore, voters still voted on paper by punching a hole in one of the two candidates' photograph, number, or name. The ballots were then collected and counted at the village level, then city/regency level, province level, and finally the national level.
Political parties
Candidates for president are nominated as individuals (along with a vice-presidential running partner); however, support from the main political parties is likely to play a crucial role in influencing the result. Partly for this reason, the highly changeable map of political parties in Indonesia contributes to the uncertainty of political trends in the run-up to the presidential election. In recent years, the number of political parties contesting major elections (for both national and regional parliaments and the presidential elections) has varied considerably.
In 2004, 24 parties contested the national elections and 16 secured enough seats to be represented in the national parliament.
In 2009, 38 parties contested the national elections and nine secured enough seats to be represented in the national parliament.
In 2014, 12 parties contested the national legislative elections on 9 April, and three more were authorised to run candidates in Aceh. (Brief details of the parties are listed at the relevant page on the website of the KPU.)[11] It is expected that candidates for president who hope to mount an effective campaign will need to secure the support of at least one of the major parties as well as several other smaller parties. Details of the twelve main national parties who qualified to mount nationwide political campaigns are as follows:
Parties that are in light grey shows that they do not pass the 2014 Parliamentary Threshold of 2.5% of the national legislative vote. They were also initially barred participation in the next election for the same reason.
The leader of Democratic Party and sitting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was officially neutral in the election.[13]
Before the national legislative elections on 9 April 2014, the following candidates had declared their intention to run for president. Following the legislative elections, these candidates were unable to reach the threshold.
Chairman of the Golkar party.[14] Formerly, there had been discontent in some quarters within the party about Bakrie's candidature. There had been some talk of a possible move to reconsider the decision to nominate him.[15] However, Golkar appears united behind him as the official candidate, although some members (especially in Eastern Indonesian region) defect to support Jusuf Kalla
Chairman of the United Development Party (PPP). Recently been announced official suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on the case of Umroh budget corruption.
Polling
NOTE: The quality of polling in Indonesia varies considerably. Furthermore, some of the polling institutions provide little information about their polling methods. The data set out below should therefore be treated with care.
Joko Widodo 40%, Prabowo Subianto 17%, Aburizal Bakrie 11%, Wiranto 7%, Jusuf Kalla 5%, Megawati Soekarnoputri 4%, Dahlan Iskan 4%, Mahfud MD 3%, Hatta Rajasa 2%, other names 7%
NOTE: See cautionary note at the top of this table.
Timeline
NOTE: The following timeline refers to some dates which refer to the national parliamentary elections due in mid-2014 as well as other events in addition to the presidential election. These dates are noted because events leading up to the national parliamentary elections will, in the minds of voters and party organisers, be closely linked to the presidential election.
Date
Event
Remarks
Jan 2014
Preparations
During January and February the Democrat Party held public meetings in main towns in Indonesia to allow the main candidates for the Democrat Party nomination to test their support.[20]
March
Campaigning
Nationwide campaigning for the national legislative (parliamentary and assembly) elections
6–8 April
Cooling-off period
9 April
Legislative elections
Simultaneous national elections for the national parliament (DPR, 560 seats), 33 provincial assemblies (DPRD I, 2,137 seats) and 497 district (kabupaten and kota) assemblies (DPRD II, 17,560 seats) See also: 2014 Indonesian legislative election
9 May
Results
Results of the legislative elections are required to be announced within 30 days of the polling day.[21]
Early May
Nomination
The names of all candidates running (jointly) for the positions of president and vice president must be formally logged at the Indonesian Electoral Commission within seven days after the results of the legislative elections are announced (see above).[22]
31 May
Announcement
The KPU announce the names of the presidential candidates
4 June – 5 July
Campaigning
Nationwide campaign by presidential candidates
6–8 July
Cooling-off period
No campaign of any form is allowed
9 July
Election
Presidential election
10–12 July
Recapitulation
At the sub-district level
10–14 July
Recapitulation
For ballots from abroad
13–15 July
Recapitulation
At the district level
16–17 July
Recapitulation
At the municipality/regency level
18–19 July
Recapitulation
At the province level
20–22 July
Recapitulation
At the national level
22–23 July
Results
Results of the presidential election are required to be announced within 14 days of the polling day.[21]
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono completes his term and the seventh president is sworn in
Counting and results
Following the election on 9 July 2014, Joko Widodo announced his victory based on quick counts of votes from several zones; most of these independent pollsters indicated a Joko Widodo victory (52–53% of votes to Prabowo's 46–48%).[23] Prabowo also claimed victory, citing other polls.[24] As the official count continued, the KPU released scans of the tally (C1) forms from each polling station on its official website, allowing downloads of the official data.[25]
In the lead up to the official announcement of the official results by the KPU, Prabowo pushed for the Commission to delay the announcement by two weeks, allowing his party to investigate claimed manipulations of the voting process. This request was denied.[26] The Prabowo camp also called for a new vote in some zones.[27] However, several Prabowo supporters congratulated Joko Widodo on his election or conceded the election. PAN politician Hanafi Rais, writing three days before the results were announced, sent a press release which stated: "We congratulate Bapak Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla — who will helm the national leadership for the next five years".[28] The same day, Prabowo's campaign manager Mahfud MD returned his mandate to Prabowo, stating that the election was over;[28] he was replaced by Lt. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah on 22 July 2014.[29]
Joko Widodo votes in Indonesia's 2014 presidential election
Out of fear that inter-party tension could lead to riots such as those which led to the downfall of former president Suharto, the Indonesian government deployed over 250,000 police officers throughout the country. In central Jakarta, hundreds of police were stationed – particularly around the KPU's offices.[30] Following bomb threats against Jakarta City Hall, after the KPU's announcement military officials tightened security around it Commission's headquarters.[31] A group of Prabowo supporters staged a non-violent protest near the offices.[30]
Prabowo's withdrawal
On 22 July 2014, the day that the KPU was due to announce its official tally, Prabowo withdrew from the recapitulation process after having insisted on his victory since the initial quick counts were released. He attributed this withdrawal to Indonesia "failing in its duty to democracy" because of "massive cheating that is structured and systematic",[32] and stated that he and Hatta "exercise our constitutional right to reject the presidential election and declare it unconstitutional".[26] His speech, aired live, implied that he would challenge the results in the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi).[32] Later reports indicated confusion over whether Prabowo had resigned from the election or simply rejected the count.[27]
According to Douglas Ramage, Managing Director for Indonesia at BowerGroupAsia,[33] this was the first time since reformasi (the Reformation) began in 1998 that the legitimacy of the election process has been questioned; he declared that the country was entering "uncharted territory".[26] The legality of a Prabowo challenge is questionable, as – if he withdrew – he is no longer considered a presidential candidate.[26] If he can make the challenge, according to The Jakarta Post, the gap between the two candidates is sufficient to make such a challenge difficult.[34] Under the presidential election law, Prabowo could face up to six years in prison and a 100 billion rupiah ($10 million) fine for withdrawing.[26][32]
Following the announcement, the value of the Indonesian rupiah dropped by 0.3%, and the JSX Composite fell by 0.9%.[27] Observers denied Prabowo's allegations of cheating, finding that the elections were "generally fair and free"; Maswadi Rauf of the University of Indonesia stated that there was "no sign of significant fraud", and that Prabowo's withdrawal simply reflected "the real attitudes of the elite, who are not yet ready to accept losing".[35]
Announcement and reaction
After Prabowo's withdrawal, his witnesses also left the announcement ceremony. However, the official tally continued; the Commission chief, Husni Kamil Manik, said that they had already fulfilled their obligations by inviting the witnesses.[36] A victory for Joko Widodo was expected,[27] and realised hours later, although the initially planned 4:00p.m. announcement was delayed for four hours.[36] The KPU gave Joko Widodo a victory of 53.15% of the vote (representing 70.99 million voters), to Prabowo's 46.85% (62.57 million votes).[34] This was the closest vote in the history of free elections in the country; the two previous elections, in 2004 and 2009, had been landslide victories for Yudhoyono.[37]
The Prabowo camp continued to reject the KPU's count, announcing that they trusted the count provided by the PKS, which gave a Prabowo victory, more than the Commission's.[38] Prabowo's camp later stated that it intended to report the KPU to the police for continuing its recapitulation despite calls for a delay and questions of the vote's validity.[39]
After the announcement, Joko Widodo stated that growing up under the authoritarian and corrupt New Order, he would have never expected someone with a lower-class background to become president. The New York Times reported him as saying, "now, it's quite similar to America, yes? There is the American dream, and here we have the Indonesian dream.".[40] Joko Widodo was the first Indonesian president to not be from the military or the political elite, and the political commentator Salim Said gave the popular view of the politician "someone who is our neighbour, who decided to get into politics and run for president".[40]
The Singaporean prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, posted his congratulations on Twitter minutes after the election, expressing hope that Joko Widodo would work towards improving relations between the two countries.[41]Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia, stated that Joko Widodo's election was a "milestone" for the development of democracy in Indonesia, and stated his hope that the two countries' relations could be reinforced following a decline caused by espionage scandals and human trafficking.[42]US PresidentBarack Obama also congratulated Jokowi and is also willing to improve relations between Indonesia and the US.[43] However, Prabowo asked for world leaders to withhold congratulatory statements to Jokowi.
Appeal
A voting ballot just after the official closing of elections at a voting station in Jakarta. The ballot is punched at section 1 (in favour of Prabowo Subianto)
A member of the Prabowo-Hatta campaign team outlined the eight final moves that Prabowo plans to take to overturn the election result. These are:[44]
File a lawsuit over the election result with the Constitutional Court
Report alleged ethical violations by the KPU to the Election Organisers Ethics Council (DKPP).
File a report with the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).
Report electoral violations to the police.
Making a report to the Ombudsman.
File a report with the State Administrative Court (PTUN) asking for the KPU on the election result to be annulled.
Political manoeuvring within the People's Representative Council (DPR) by establishing a Presidential Election Special Committee to evaluate the performance of the KPU. The manoeuvring was done by parties within Prabowo-Hatta's coalition.
Prabowo Subianto took an appeal against the election result to the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, alleging "structured, systematic and massive" violations and that up to 24.1 million votes were "troubled". The first hearing was on 6 August. Hundreds of supporters were present outside the court.[45] On 21 August the court delivered a unanimous 9–0 verdict in favour of rejecting all aspects of the appeal. A spokesperson for Subianto stated that his team did not consider the ruling fair, but they would accept the court's judgement.[46] On the same day, the Election Organizers Ethics Council (DKPP) ruled that there had been some ethical violations. Of the nine local election commissioners dismissed for taking bribes, four of them took money from Prabowo's Gerindra Party.[47]
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is a centre to centre-left secular-nationalist political party in Indonesia. Since 2014, it has been the ruling and largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 110 seats in the latest election. The party is led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004.
Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and retired army general serving as the eighth president of Indonesia since 20 October 2024. He was previously the 26th minister of defense under president Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024. Prabowo is Indonesia's third president to have a military background after Suharto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). He has been described as a right-wing nationalist. He is also the first president to not have a first spouse, as well as president with the least number of children (one).
Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on 8 July 2009. The elections returned a president and vice president for the 2009–2014 term. Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, elected with a 20% margin in the 2004 election, sought a second term against former President Megawati Sukarnoputri in a rematch of the 2004 election, as well as incumbent Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Securing a majority of the votes in a landslide victory in the first round, Yudhoyono was re-elected without the need to proceed to a second round. Yudhoyono was officially declared the victor of the election on 23 July 2009, by the General Election Commission (KPU). At the time of his re-election victory, Yudhoyono, with nearly 74 million votes in his favour, held the record for the highest number of votes for a single person in any democratic election in history, surpassing Barack Obama's total of 69.5 million votes in the 2008 United States presidential election. His record was surpassed by his respective successors Joko Widodo who won more than 85 million votes in 2019 and Prabowo Subianto who won more than 96 million votes in 2024.
The Great Indonesia Movement Party, better known as the Gerindra Party, is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in Indonesia. Since 2014, it has been the third-largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 86 seats in the latest election. It currently controls the presidency. Gerindra is led by the former army general and the current president, Prabowo Subianto.
Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), he was the country's first president to not emerge from the country's political or military elite. He previously served as governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2014 and mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012.
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The first inauguration of Joko Widodo as the seventh president of Indonesia took place on Monday, 20 October 2014 at the Parliamentary Complex, Jakarta. This ceremony marked the commencement of the first five-year term of Joko Widodo as president and second non-consecutive and final term of Jusuf Kalla as vice president.
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The Indonesian Unity Party is a political party in Indonesia. The party was founded on 8 October 2014 and declared on 7 February 2015 by media tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo, owner of the MNC Group and business partner of former US President Donald Trump.
Joko Widodo's presidential campaign in 2014 was announced on 14 March 2014, when his political party PDI-P declared him as the party's candidate for the upcoming election in 2014. He was then the Governor of Jakarta, and previously the Mayor of Surakarta. With former vice president Jusuf Kalla as his running mate, he was elected as President of Indonesia following election on 9 July and official KPU announcement on 22 July.
Sudirman Said is the former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia on the Working Cabinet from 27 October 2014 to 27 July 2016. He was replaced by Arcandra Tahar in the second cabinet reshuffle. He is known as an anti corruption figure.
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2019 (MMXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2019th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 19th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 10th and last year of the 2010s decade.
Prabowo Subianto's presidential campaign in 2019 or Gerakan Nasional #2019GantiPresiden was his second presidential bid, following his loss to Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in the 2014 Indonesian presidential election. His running mate was businessman and former Jakarta deputy governor Sandiaga Uno.
General elections were held in Indonesia on 14 February 2024 to elect the president, vice president, and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which consists of the House of Representatives (DPR), the Regional Representative Council (DPD), and members of local legislative bodies (DPRD) at the provincial and city/regency levels. The newly elected members of the MPR would be sworn in on 1 October 2024, while the elected president and vice president would be sworn in on 20 October 2024. Incumbent President Joko Widodo was ineligible to run for a third term due to limitations established by the Indonesian constitution.
The second inauguration of Joko Widodo as president of Indonesia took place on Sunday, 20 October 2019 at the Parliamentary Complex, Jakarta. This ceremony marked the commencement of the second consecutive and final five-year term of Joko Widodo as president and first term of Ma'ruf Amin as vice president.
Gibran Rakabuming Raka is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 14th vice president of Indonesia. He is also the former mayor of Surakarta. He is the eldest child of the seventh President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. In the 2024 Indonesian presidential election, he ran as the vice-presidential candidate of Prabowo Subianto.
Muhammad Bobby Afif Nasution is an Indonesian businessman and politician currently serving as Medan's mayor. He is the son-in-law of former President Joko Widodo.
The Onward Indonesia Coalition was an official political coalition in Indonesia that supported the presidential/vice presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Ma'ruf Amin in the 2019 presidential election. It was initially known as the Working Indonesia Coalition, founded in 2018. The coalition was later utilized as the government of President Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024. It was dissolved on 20 October 2024.
Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on 14 February 2024 with defence minister and former general Prabowo Subianto contesting the elections against the former governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan and the former governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo; incumbent president Joko Widodo was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in office.
↑ Denny Indrayana (2008) Indonesian Constitutional Reform 1999–2002: An Evaluation of Constitution-Making in Transition, Kompas Book Publishing, Jakarta ISBN978-979-709-394-5.
↑ Manafe, Imanuel Nicolas (5 July 2014). Gunawan, Hendra (ed.). "JK Apresiasi Sikap SBY yang Netral". Tribunnews.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 27 March 2023.
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9.97%)
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