3 - Indonesia's 2009 Elections: Defective System, Resilient Democracy

Summary

In 2009, Indonesia held its third set of nationwide democratic elections since the end of Suharto' authoritarian New Order regime in 1998. Surprising many observers, the elections were marred by far worse administrative and technical defects than any previous post-Suharto election, pointing to significant underlying problems in Indonesian democracy. At the same time, the elections were generally agreed to be free and fair, they produced renewed democratic legitimacy for government institutions, and they confirmed or modified, rather than overturned, most of the broad patterns of political alignment established over the preceding decade. Overall, the elections thus point to a high degree of stability and resilience in Indonesia' new democracy, despite the problems.

The elections were held in two rounds. On 9 April 2009 legislative elections determined the membership of national and regional parliaments. The results confirmed a slow but steady change in Indonesia' electoral politics, with some parties gaining significantly in support and others declining, but with the overall pattern of a fragmented multi-party system remaining intact. On 8 July 2009, the first round of direct presidential elections was held, the second such elections since Suharto' fall in 1998. A second-round presidential election, planned for September, proved unnecessary because of a landslide victory by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the first round, in which he won 60.8 per cent of the vote.

The magnitude of this victory points to relatively high popular satisfaction with government, more than 10 years into Indonesia' democratic transition. Yet the achievements of these elections in consolidating Indonesian democracy were significantly undermined by serious technical flaws that marked a worrying decline in the professionalism of Indonesia' electoral management, and which may be viewed as emblematic of wider problems of governance that still bedevil Indonesian democracy.

This chapter examines key developments related to the election cycle of 2009 and their implications for Indonesian democracy. It is divided into five sections. The first discusses the legislative elections, which continued a slow but important change in Indonesia' electoral politics. The second section analyses the July presidential election, which favoured the candidate best able to navigate a political battleground characterised by the overriding importance of personality and image. The third looks at the influence of political Islam, whose relatively poor performance in 2009 confirms Islam' struggle to remain relevant in a formal political life dominated by non-theocratic forces.