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Results of the second round: the candidate with the majority of votes in each of the 32 provinces of Indonesia. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: blue; Megawati Sukarnoputri: red. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Indonesia |
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The first direct presidential election in Indonesia was held in two rounds on July 5 and September 20, 2004. Prior to a 2002 amendment to the Constitution of Indonesia, the President and Vice President were elected by the country's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly.
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons, or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two-round system for single-winner elections, such as a presidential election, and party-list proportional representation for the election of a legislature.
The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.
The State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia of 1945 is the basis for the government of Indonesia.
Under the new amendment, a candidate pair is elected into office after receiving more than 50 percent of the vote nationally with at least 20 percent of the vote in more than half of the provinces of Indonesia. If no pair receives the number of votes required, the election will continue into the second round with the pairs receiving the highest and second highest number of votes. Further regulations set by the General Election Commission state that each pair must be nominated by a political party or coalition of parties which received at least five percent of the popular vote or three percent of the seats to the People's Representative Council in the April legislative election.
The Provinces of Indonesia are the 34 largest subdivisions of the country and the highest tier of the local government. Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities, which are in turn subdivided into subdistricts (kecamatan).
The People's Representative Council, alternatively translatable as the House of Representatives or as the House of People's Representatives, is one of two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia.
The incumbent President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was elected into office in 2001 after the legislature impeached and removed her predecessor, president Abdurrahman Wahid (often known as "Gus Dur"), from office. Megawati's re-election bid was challenged by four candidates, including incumbent Vice President Hamzah Haz. In the first round, former cabinet member and retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received a plurality of the valid ballots submitted, followed by Megawati. Yudhoyono eventually defeated Megawati with 60.62 percent of the valid ballots in the second round. He was inaugurated as the sixth President of Indonesia on 20 October 2004.
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri is an Indonesian politician who served as President of Indonesia from 23 July 2001 to 20 October 2004. She was previously the country's vice president for 21 months.
Abdurrahman Wahid, colloquially known as Gus Dur, was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. The long-time president of the Nahdlatul Ulama and the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid was the first elected president of Indonesia after the resignation of Suharto in 1998.
Hamzah Haz is an Indonesian politician. He was the chairman of the United Development Party (1998-2007) and served as the ninth vice-president from 2001 until 2004.
In the 1999 legislative election, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won the largest number of seats in the People's Representative Council (DPR) and became the largest faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the legislative body responsible for electing the President. The PDI–P was led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president. Megawati's supporters had expected her to be elected President by the MPR, but she failed to reach out to parties other than the National Awakening Party (PKB). Her only opponent at the time was President B. J. Habibie, who came into office in May 1998, but he withdrew his candidacy after his accountability speech was rejected by the MPR. The PKB, which was led by Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of Indonesia's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), had also pledged to support Megawati for President. However, it became clear that Megawati did not have enough votes to back her candidacy. Additionally, National Mandate Party (PAN) leader Amien Rais and his Central Axis (Indonesian: Poros Tengah), a coalition of Islamic and reform parties, began pushing for Abdurrahman's candidacy. [1]
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Representative Council (DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (DPD). Before 2004, and the amendments to the 1945 Constitution, the MPR was the highest governing body in Indonesia.
Abdurrahman eventually won the MPR's presidential election, and Megawati was elected as Vice President. [2] As President, he repealed many of the laws enacted during the Suharto era that discriminated against Chinese Indonesians. Among these were bans on the use of Chinese characters and display of images relating to Chinese culture. Following this act, many political parties began to reach out to Chinese Indonesians for their votes by displaying Chinese characters on campaign material. [3]
The Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia is the first in the line of succession in the Republic of Indonesia.
The New Order is the term coined by the second Indonesian President Suharto to characterise his regime as he came to power in 1966. Suharto used this term to contrast his rule with that of his predecessor, Sukarno. The term "New Order" in more recent times has become synonymous with the Suharto years (1966–1998).
Following Abdurrahman's impeachment and removal from office by the MPR in July 2001, the legislative body elevated Megawati to the presidency. She would complete the remainder of Abdurrahman's five-year term, ending in October 2004. [2] During its 2002 annual session, the MPR added a series of amendments to the Constitution of Indonesia, [4] including the removal of the military's 38 appointed seats in the Assembly, and an amendment for direct election of the President and Vice President. This presidential election process would involve political parties nominating a presidential and vice presidential ticket with the option of runoff election. [5]
In December 2003, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) began a tracking survey in order to assess the popularity of potential candidates. The survey continued until the start of the first election round on 5 July and included thirteen possible candidates for President. The first IFES survey indicated that incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri received a plurality of the votes. However, by the time of the April 2004 legislative election, retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had taken the lead from Megawati after resigning from her cabinet in March. Other potential candidates included DPR Speaker Akbar Tanjung and Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwana X. [7]
The results of the legislative election determined which political parties were eligible to submit presidential tickets. Only parties which received at least five percent of the popular vote or three percent of seats (17 of 550 seats) in the DPR would be allowed to submit candidates. Parties that did not meet these criteria must join with other parties to meet at least one criterion. Seven political parties met these criteria: the Party of the Functional Groups (Golkar), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party (PD), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and the National Mandate Party (PAN). The PKS was the only party not to nominate candidates, but it later threw its support behind the PAN. [8]
The General Election Commission announced the final list of candidates on 14 May. Following the announcement, all candidates were required to undergo medical screening. On 22 May, the Commission announced that the PKB's presidential candidate, former President Abdurrahman Wahid, had failed the eye test and was not allowed to enter in the election. [8] He initially told supporters not to vote for a presidential candidate on election day but decided to retract that statement after pressure from the party. [9] [10]
Golkar had won the April legislative election after losing to the PDI–P five years prior. The party nominated retired General Wiranto and Salahuddin Wahid, deputy chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, for its presidential ticket. The pair was assigned the number 1 for its ballot. [11]
Wiranto was an adjutant to former President Suharto in 1989–1993. During this time, he rapidly rose to the rank of full general and eventually became the head of the National Armed Forces. [12] When riots broke out throughout the country in 1998 against Suharto, he refused to take control in order to avoid the deaths of protesting university students. In 1999, as East Timor held an independence referendum, Wiranto was accused of having taken part in inciting violence among East Timorese along with several other officers; however, he was never issued an arrest warrant by Interpol. [13] Under President Abdurrahman Wahid, Wiranto served as the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs but was later dismissed. On 20 April 2004, the Golkar Convention voted to nominate him for President over DPR Speaker Akbar Tanjung in the second round of voting. [12]
On 9 May, Golkar selected Salahuddin Wahid (also known as Gus Sholah) as its vice presidential candidate after an endorsement was made by his brother Abdurrahman. [14] Because Salahuddin was also a deputy chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama, many NU members criticized him for not adhering to the organization's khittah, which affirmed the NU's status as a non-political organization. [15] With this nomination, PKB leaders officially supported the Wiranto–Salahuddin pair for the election. [12]
Salahuddin's position on the human rights commission helped the reputation of Wiranto. However, because both candidates were of Javanese background, they were not expected to attract as many voters who were not Javanese. [12]
Incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri was the PDI–P's top nominee. She was joined by vice presidential candidate Hasyim Muzadi, general chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). The pair was assigned the number 2 for its ballot. [11]
According to a report released by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Megawati has a "unique burden of being the only candidate in the race who is held responsible for the current situation most voters are unhappy with" in spite of the fact that several other candidates have been members of her government. [16] However, the general discontent for her presidency was attributed largely to the failure of the government to communicate Megawati's achievements rather than the state of the country itself. [17] The PDI–P came in second during the April legislative election with 18.5 percent of the votes, a reduction by almost half from the 33.7 percent it had received in 1999. [18]
Hasyim Muzadi had been mentioned as a possible running mate for Megawati as early as November 2003. [19] His candidacy was officially announced by Megawati on 6 May. [20] As Chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama, he was criticized by many NU members for not adhering to the organization's khittah and the principle of political neutrality. [15] Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid had called on him to step down from the position following the announcement of the candidacy. [21]
The two candidates' Javanese background were not expected attract as many non-Javanese voters. [12] However, the candidates' status as civilians attracted those who did not favor candidates with a military background, and they also were expected to attract both secular and religious voters. [22]
The PAN nominated Amien Rais, chairman of the MPR, as its presidential candidate. His running mate was Siswono Yudohusodo. The pair was assigned the number 3 for its ballot. [11]
Amien Rais had once served as the chairman of Muhammadiyah. However, despite leading the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, Amien established the PAN following the resignation of President Suharto as a party not based on religious affiliation. He became an influential figure in the early days of the reform period and was eventually elected to lead the MPR. [23] Among voters, he was seen as a candidate who had no association with the corruption that was endemic to the nation's government. Voters also saw him as an ambitious person and as one who was known for being an orator. [16] Amien's party had received 6.4 percent of the votes during the legislative election. [18]
On the other hand, Siswono Yudohusodo was a relative newcomer to the political scene. He served as the chairman of the Indonesian Farmers' Association (HKTI) and held ministerial positions during the later years of Suharto's presidency. [22] Siswono was the wealthiest of any candidate for President or Vice President based on reports submitted by candidates to the Corruption Eradication Commission. [24]
Like Megawati and Hasyim, Amien and Siswono were also not expected to attract many non-Javanese voters. The pair was supported by the PKS, the seventh party which met the criteria to submit presidential and vice presidential candidates but did not do so, and a number of smaller parties. [22]
The Democratic Party, supported by the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) and Crescent Star Party (PBB), nominated retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for its presidential candidate. He was later joined by Jusuf Kalla as running mate, and the pair was assigned the number 4 for its ballot. [11]
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has served in the cabinets of two previous administrations. While serving as Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs under Abdurrahman Wahid, he refused an order to declare a state of emergency that would have stopped the parliamentary process to impeach the President and was subsequently dismissed. [26] Yudhoyono was nominated for Vice President after the MPR selected Megawati to succeed Abdurrahman Wahid, but he lost the election to PPP Chairman Hamzah Haz and DPR Speaker Akbar Tanjung. [27] He reprised his prior cabinet position in Megawati's administration but resigned on 1 March 2004 to join the race for the presidency. [22] The Democratic Party, established as a vehicle for Yudhoyono's political career by secular nationalists who saw the potential of his leadership, [27] received 7.45 percent of votes and 10 percent of DPR seats in the April legislative election. [18]
Yudhoyono's running mate was Jusuf Kalla, a wealthy Bugis businessman and member of Golkar who served as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare under Megawati. [28] He mediated two separate peaceful resolutions to inter-religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims in his native Sulawesi in 2001 and in Maluku in 2002. [29] [30] Kalla joined Golkar's selection process for the party's presidential nominee in August 2003 but withdrew his candidacy days before the party convention the following April. [31] [32] Several days later, he resigned his cabinet position and announced his alliance with Yudhoyono. [28] Kalla was also seen as a potential vice presidential candidate for the incumbent Megawati. [33]
The combination brought together two men with very different backgrounds that added to the attractiveness of their ticket. Yudhoyono, who was raised in densely populated Java, is seen as more secular and has a military background. On the other hand, Kalla is a devout Muslim who grew up in the outer province of South Sulawesi and comes from a civilian background. [28]
Incumbent Vice President Hamzah Haz was the presidential nominee of the PPP. He was joined by Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar for vice presidential candidate. The pair was assigned the number 5 for its ballot. [11]
Hamzah Haz was elected Vice President by the MPR after defeating DPR Speaker Akbar Tanjung when it removed President Abdurrahman Wahid from office in 2001. Although the BBC reported him once stating that "no woman was fit to head the world's leading Muslim nation", he came into office as the deputy to Indonesia's first female president. Haz served in the cabinet of President B. J. Habibie and was the first minister to resign from the Abdurrahman Wahid administration. He was accused of graft and nepotism but was never subjected to an investigation. [34] As Vice President, Haz had been a proponent of an amendment to the Constitution which would impose Islamic law on Muslims in the country. However, other political parties and the Islamic organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah opposed such amendment for fear of more extremist forms of Islam. [35]
A relatively unknown figure in the political scene, Agum Gumelar served as Minister of Transportation under Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati. [28] In September 2003, Agum had recommended Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Jusuf Kalla as Megawati's running mate in the presidential election after predicting that the PDI–P would lose a significant number of votes in the April legislative election. However, both men eventually formed their own ticket, and Agum declined a vice presidential candidate offer from Amien Rais in order to remain on the cabinet. He eventually accepted an offer from the PPP leadership to become Haz's running mate and resigned from Megawati's administration. [36]
Neither candidate was of Javanese origin, hence they might have attracted constituencies of the outer provinces. [28]
Corruption, collusion, and nepotism are the most consistently cited concerns among voters surveyed by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. [16]
Former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the first round with 33% of the vote. Incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri was second with 26%, ahead of former armed forces chief Wiranto on 22%. Yudhoyono did not do as well as earlier opinion polls had suggested, while Megawati did better. This was attributed by Indonesian observers to Yudhoyono's lack of a nationwide party machine, such as Megawati's PDI-P and Wiranto's Golkar.[ citation needed ]
The counting of 113 million votes, already a huge task in such a large and diverse country, was made more difficult by problems with the ballot papers. Voters cast their ballots by making a hole in the ballot paper with a nail, above the photo of their preferred candidate. Because the ballot paper was handed to voters folded in half, many made the hole without unfolding the ballot, thus making two holes and invalidating their vote. Hundreds of thousands of these votes were invalidated before the General Election Committee (KPU) ruled that such ballots should be accepted. [40] This necessitated recounts in many places, slowing the count and raising fears of a disputed result.
Candidate | Running mate | Party | First round | Second round | ||
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Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | Jusuf Kalla | Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat) | 39,838,184 | 33.57 | 69,266,350 | 60.62 |
Megawati Sukarnoputri | Hasyim Muzadi | Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan) | 31,569,104 | 26.61 | 44,990,704 | 39.38 |
Wiranto | Salahuddin Wahid | Party of the Functional Groups (Partai Golongan Karya) | 26,286,788 | 22.15 | ||
Amien Rais | Siswono Yudohusodo | National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional) | 17,392,931 | 14.66 | ||
Hamzah Haz | Agum Gumelar | United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan) | 3,569,861 | 3.01 | ||
Total | 118,656,868 | 100.00 | 114,257,054 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Ananta, Arifin & Suryadinata 2005, pp. 80–83, 107 |
Wiranto refused to accept the election results and petitioned the Constitutional Court. Wiranto and Salahuddin argued that, due to irregularities in ballot counting by the General Election Commission, they had lost 5,434,660 votes from twenty-six provinces. Those ballots would have made the total popular vote for the pair greater than that for Megawati and Hasyim, putting the former pair instead of the latter in the second round. However, the Court ruled on 10 August that it found no irregularities and upheld the Commission's final count. [42]
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Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla were sworn in as President and Vice President on 20 October. It was the first Indonesian presidential inauguration to be attended by foreign leaders. [47] After a selection process that began on 15 October, the United Indonesia Cabinet was announced later following the inauguration. The 36-member cabinet was sworn in at the State Palace on 21 October. [48] The process of selecting candidates for Yudhoyono's cabinet was considered "decent, intelligent, and indecisive". While attempting to sastisfy as many members as possible in his coalition of small parties, Yudhoyono created a cabinet that was neither quite as cohesive nor effective. However, Kalla soon became the party chairman of Golkar in late 2004 and turned the party's votes in the People's Representative Council (DPR) to those in favor of the government, creating an effective bloc and leaving Megawati's PDI–P as the largest non-government party in the DPR. [49] Although the first one hundred days of Yudhoyono's administration saw a continuing economic stability, it was overshadowed by the events of the Indian Ocean earthquake which occurred on 26 December. The earthquake triggered tsunamis that destroyed the coastline of the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra and killed more than 200,000 people. [50]
The Golkar Party or Party of Functional Groups is a political party in Indonesia. It was founded as Sekber Golkar in 1964, and participated for the first time in 1971 as Golkar. At this point, Golkar was not a political party. In 1999, forced by the new election law, the groups reformed itself as a political party.
The United Development Party is an Islam-based political party in Indonesia. Due to its distinctive logo, the party is nicknamed "Kaaba Party".
Indonesia held legislative elections on 5 April 2004 for both houses of the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's national legislature. This included all 550 seats in the People's Representative Council and 128 seats of the new Regional Representative Council.
Wiranto is a retired Indonesian army General. He was the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces from February 1998 to October 1999 during Indonesia's transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. He ran unsuccessfully for President of Indonesia in 2004 and for the vice-presidency in 2009. On 27 July 2016 Wiranto was appointed Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, replacing Luhut Binsar Panjaitan.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, commonly referred to by his initials SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired Army general officer who was the President of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. He is currently the chairman of the Democratic Party of Indonesia and President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute. President Yudhoyono was also the former Chairman of ASEAN due to the hosting of Indonesia of the 18th and 19th ASEAN Summits.
Elections in Indonesia have taken place since 1955 to elect a legislature. At a national level, Indonesian people did not elect a head of state – the president – until 2004. Since then, the president is elected for a five-year term, as are the 560-member People's Representative Council and the 128-seat Regional Representative Council.
Muhammad Jusuf Kalla is an Indonesian politician who has been Vice President of Indonesia since 2014, having previously served from 2004 to 2009. He was unsuccessful as Golkar's presidential candidate in the 2009 presidential election. Since 2009 Kalla has served as the Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Society. Before Kalla declared himself as the running mate for Joko Widodo in the 2014 presidential election, a 2012 poll placed his popularity among likely voters in the top three contenders for the presidency and ahead of his own party's nominee Aburizal Bakrie. He is the first person to hold two non-consecutive terms as Vice President of Indonesia.
The Post-Suharto era in Indonesia began with the fall of Suharto in 1998 during which Indonesia has been in a period of transition, an era known in Indonesia as Reformasi. A more open and liberal political-social environment ensued following the resignation of authoritarian President Suharto, ending the three decades of the New Order period.
Agum Gumelar is a politician and former general of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. He is a former minister having held several positions, a former chairman of Indonesian Football Association and National Sports Committee of Indonesia. He is an alumnus of the National Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java and Medical Faculty of Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java. In 1998, he received a master's degree from American World University, an organization forbidden to operate in 2005 because of its diploma mill action.
The President of the Republic of Indonesia is the head of state and also head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president leads the executive branch of the Indonesian government and is the commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.
Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on 8 July 2009. The elections returned a president and vice president for the 2009–2014 period. 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, scheduled to be held on 8 September if no candidate received a majority of the popular vote. Yudhoyono was officially declared the victor of the election on 23 July 2009, by the General Election Commission. Yudhoyono, with nearly 74 million votes in his favor, holds the record for the highest number of votes for a single person in any democratic election in history.
The 1999 Indonesian legislative election, held on 7 June 1999, was the first election since the end of the New Order and the first free election in Indonesia since 1955. With the ending of restrictions on political activity following the fall of Suharto, a total of 48 parties contested the 462 seats up for election in the People's Representative Council. A further 38 seats were reserved for the armed forces.
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana is the eldest daughter of former Indonesian President Soeharto. She is named after Soeharto's late wife Siti Hartinah.
Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 9 April 2009 for 132 seats of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) and 560 seats of the People's Representative Council (DPR). A total of 38 parties met the requirements to be allowed to participate in the national elections, with a further six contesting in Aceh only. The Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the largest share of the vote, followed by the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle.
The Inauguration of Joko Widodo as seventh President of Indonesia took place on Monday, October 20, 2014 at the DPR/MPR Building, Jakarta. This ceremony marked the commencement of the five-year term Joko Widodo as president and Jusuf Kalla as vice president.
Events from the year 2004 in Indonesia