Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Golkar lost several significant regional strongholds to other contenders, and in particular to outsider PKS, an Islamist party that garners support from its clean governance agenda. This can be interpreted as a sign that the Indonesian voter is looking beyond traditional party affiliations and wants political change, while also at the regional level he has become more aware of and increasingly critical towards the performance of politicians – which seems encouraging.

New electoral laws

The revision of four political bills by the parliament was a major political achievement in 2008. The four newly adopted political bills pertaining the electoral law, the law on independent candidates, the law on political parties and the law on party finance, have a profound impact on Indonesia's electoral system.

With the new electoral law in place, important steps have been taken. Indonesia has moved from a closed proportional list system to a semi-open proportional system where the preference of individual voters is of increased importance and the political participation of women is better ensured. Furthermore, a threshold has been set at 2,5%.

Independent candidates

A second important development is the law pertaining to independent candidates, allowing them to run in regional elections for the executive. 

The new laws and in particular the discussions preceding their revising received mixed reviews in Indonesia. The protracted deliberations endangered the timely installation of a new independent electoral commission, the KPU, which as a result was formed at a relatively late stage. Political parties were criticized for not discussing the bills constructively and for looking at the proposed changes only from an ‘oligarchic’ point of view. Although this view holds some truth, some of the positive outcomes such as the emphasis on women’s participation should not be ignored.