DRAFT - Brief Overview of the 2014 Elections in Indonesia

Introduction
The Indonesian election is probably the most complex electoral event globally: Four million station officials
in 550,000 polling stations across a country of 17,000 islands, manage 775 million ballot papers in 2,450
different designs to get 19,700 candidates elected for one presidency and 532 legislatures at national and
sub-national level.
Indonesia has had three rounds of national elections since returning to democracy: 1999, 2004 and 2009.
The quality of the 1999 and 2004 election operation progressed well, but a major procurement scandal,
subsequent dysfunctional legislation, and a challenged election commission resulted in sub-standard 2009
elections - saved primarily by a convincing and significant victory margin. On the backdrop of the 2009
election, the hopes, expectations and risks for the upcoming 2014 elections are significant and the
challenge to the 2,659 newly appointed election commissioners at national and sub-national level is
immense.
The elections for legislatures at national and sub-national level are scheduled for 9 April 2014. The
Presidential election is expected to be in July 2014, with a second round, if needed, expected in September.
While Presidential and legislative elections happen every five years, local elections for powerful executives
on sub-national level happens in a staggered manner throughout Indonesia all the time. There is always an
imminent local election somewhere in Indonesia.
In terms of the size of the electorate, the national election in Indonesia is the second largest one-day
election in the world - just behind the U.S. According to the national census from April 2010, the current
total population of Indonesia is 237.56 million. The voting age is 17 (on Election Day) or being married
regardless of the age. The fixed voter list for the 2014 election established on 4 November 2013 recorded
186.61 million registered voters. For the 2009 legislative elections, there were 171 million registered voters
and 122 million votes cast - a 71 percent turn-out rate - which is a drastic decline from the 93 percent turnout for legislative elections in 1999 and 84 percent in 2004; however, a decline is not unusual for newly
established democracies.

The Legal Framework

Indonesia is a representative republic whereby the President is both the head of state and of government.
The amended 1945 Constitution of Indonesia (Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun
1945 [UUD 1945]) is the foundation for the countrys system of government and provides for a separation
of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The fall of Soeharto in 1998 and the beginning of the Reformasi movement resulted in significant
amendments to the Constitution, which impacted all three branches of government, added important
human rights provisions and for the first time inserted the concept of election into the constitution.
The legislative framework governing democratic representation is complex and involves six laws:
Law 15/2011 governing election management bodies
Law 8/2012 governing legislative elections
Law 42/2008 governing presidential elections
Law 32/2004 governing regional administration (which includes local elections)1
Law 2/2011 governing political parties
Law 27/2009 governing the structure of national and sub-national legislatures2

Legislative Elections
On 9 April 2014 elections will take place for the national level legislatures and for sub-national legislatures in
333 provinces and 497 regencies and municipalities.

1
2

A new bill on local election is being debated in the DPR and is expected to be passed in 2013.
This law may be amended before the newly-elected legislators are seated beginning in July 2014.

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At the national level there are two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia: the House of
Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (Dewan
Perwakilan Daerah/DPD). While the DPR is an existing body established by the original 1945 Constitution, the
DPD was formed in 2004 after an amendment to the Constitution in a move towards bicameralism. However,
only the DPR fully legislates while the DPD has a more limited mandate4. Together both chambers are
referred to as the Peoples Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat/MPR), which has a very
limited mandate, including the final step in the presidential impeachment process. Members of both the DPR
and DPD are elected for a five-year term.
The national DPR has a total of 560 representatives from 77 multi-member electoral districts, with three to
ten seats in each electoral district (depending on district population), elected from political party lists through
an open-list proportional representation (PR) system. A legislative threshold of 3.5 percent applies only to the
national level DPR, not to sub-national legislatures. Each voter receives one DPR ballot listing all political
parties and candidates running in their electoral district. The voter then punches one or two holes to mark
one candidate or one political party or both. If a ballot has two holes punched then the political party chosen
must be the party of the candidate or the ballot is invalid.
The DPD has 132 representatives, four from each of 33 provinces. Nonpartisan candidates from the
respective provinces are elected through a single-non-transferable-vote system. Each voter receives one DPD
ballot listing all nonpartisan candidates running in their province. The voter punches only one hole to mark
the candidate of his/her choice. The four candidates with the highest vote totals in each province are elected.
DPRD Province (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Provinsi) are elected in 33 provinces, each with between
35 and 100 members, depending on the population of the province. For 2014 legislative election, at the
provincial level, there are 2,112 seats contested in 259 multi-member constituencies with 3 to 12 seats
each, depending on population. 497 DPRD Regency/Municipality (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah
Kabupaten/Kota) are elected, each with between 20 to 50 members, depending on population. Underneath
the provincial level of local government there are 410 regencies or kabupaten (generally rural) and 98
municipalities or kota (generally urban) of which 4975 will elect DPRD Regency/Municipality. For the 2014
legislative election, at the regency/municipality level, there are 16,895 seats in 2,102 multi-member
constituencies with 3 to 12 seats.
The representatives at national, provincial, and the regency/municipality levels are elected for five-year
terms on the same day, through the same PR open-list system as described for DPR at the national level
albeit without a threshold. In practice, this means that each voter in Indonesia will receive four different
ballots on 9 April 2014, one each for DPR, DPD, DPRD Province and DPRD Regency/Municipality6.
DPR Seat Allocation: In 2009 the seat allocation for DPR, DPRD Province and DPRD Regency/Municipality
was a complicated process that led to misallocation of seats and embarrassing corrections. In the current
legislative election law (8/2012), the seat allocation process has been simplified into two stages. To allocate
seats, the General Election Commission (KPU) will first determine the quota (Bilangan Pembagi
Pemilih/BPP) for each electoral district (Daerah Pemilihan/Dapil). The BPP is the total number of valid votes
cast in the electoral district divided by the total number of seats in that district. A political party receives
one seat for each time their total number of votes received meets the BPP. For example, if the BPP is 1500
and Party A received 5000 votes, they will win three seats in this first stage of calculation. In the second
stage of calculation any remaining seats of the electoral district are allocated to those political parties with
the largest vote remainders (the vote remainder equals the partys total votes minus all votes used to
secure seats in the first stage allocation). For example: the BPP is 1500 in an electoral district with five seats
being competed by two political parties; Party A received 5000 votes and therefore won three seats in
3 In March 2013, the Government officially announced the formation of the 34th province of North Kalimantan. Old electoral delimitation based on
33 provinces will remain throughout 2014 election. Representatives of North Kalimantan in the DPD and DPR will be elected in the 2019 election,
the DPRD Province/Regency/Municipality will be determined from the result of the 2014 Election. Representatives from the original province, East
Kalimantan, will continue to represent the interests of North Kalimantan until the 2019 election.
4 DPD law-making authority is limited to providing non-binding input to the DPR regarding regional autonomy, establishment of new regions,
management of natural resources and central and regional monetary policy.
5
This number excludes six regencies/municipalities in Jakarta which do not have DPRD and five regency/municipalities in the 34th province North
Kalimantan where DPRD will only be elected in 2019.
6 In the capital region (Jakarta) voters receive only three ballots as there is no DPRD Regency/Municipality.

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stage one, Party B received 2500 votes and won one seat in stage one; Party A has 500 remaining votes and
Party B has 1000 remaining votes; hence Party B receives the remaining fifth seat in this second stage.
Should political parties end up with the same vote remainder for one remaining seat, the seat is given to
the political party with the wider geographical distribution of votes. Once the number of seats for each
political party is determined, the seats are filled by candidates who ran for the party in the electoral district
and received the highest number of votes. For the national level DPR and its 77 electoral districts, political
parties that receive less than 3.5 percent of the valid votes cast for the national DPR vote are excluded from
the seat allocation process. Such parties can still win seats in DPRD Province and DPRD
Regency/Municipality.
Gender Quota: During elections in 2004, the election law suggested that political parties include 30 percent
of women candidates in their lists. Of the 24 contesting political parties 14 met the suggested quota
resulting in DPR being seated with 11.6 percent of women and DPD with 22 percent. In the 2009 legislative
election, the gender quota regulation was slightly stricter. Each running political party was required to
submit a minimum of 30 percent women candidates in the proposed candidate list, with at least one
woman within every three candidates listed from the top of the list (so called zipper system). The 30
percent requirement had non-binding administrative sanctions for non-compliance, while the zipper
system non-compliance had no sanctions attached. In 2009 election, 101 women were elected to DPR, or
17.86 percent, (currently there are 103 female DPR representatives due to interim replacement of
legislators). For the 2014 election, Law 8/2012 maintains 30 percent quota in the candidate lists and
requires that at least one candidate in every three is a woman. Both requirements now carry a binding
sanction i.e. political parties that do not meet the quota will be disqualified from running in the electoral
district where the quota is not met. During the candidacy registration process at the KPU, all 12 national
contesting parties met the requirement. The fixed candidate list has 2,465 women and a total of 6,607
candidates slightly over 37 percent. One woman being listed within every three candidates on the ballot
does not provide any guarantee of gender representation as the seats won by a political party will be
allocated to their candidates who receive the highest number of votes, regardless of gender. If Party A wins
three seats and their three candidates with the most votes are male, the political party will have no female
representative in that electoral district.

Presidential Elections
The President is the head of the executive branch and can be elected for a maximum of two five-year
terms. A political party or coalition of political parties that wins 25 percent of the vote or wins at least 20
percent of the seats in the DPR can nominate candidates for President and Vice President (running as a
pair). Presidential election is therefore held shortly after legislative elections in order to establish which
political parties or coalitions are eligible to nominate a presidential candidate. The President and the VicePresident are elected as a pair directly by the people. The current President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
was elected for his second and last term in the first round of the 2009 election with 60.8 percent of the
vote.
The Presidential election is expected to be in early July 2014. The actual date will be set by the election
commission in the near future. If a presidential candidate does not reach absolute majority in this first
round, a second round run-off election between the two highest vote getters would be held in September
2014.

Local Elections Pemilukada

Indonesias local government structure is divided into 34 Provinces, with 508 regencies/municipalities
(Kabupaten in rural areas and kota in cities), 6,994 subdistricts (kecamatan), and under this 81,253 urban
wards/rural villages (kelurahan in cities and desa in rural areas).
Formal local elections organized by the election commission are called Regional Head Elections (Pemilihan
Umum Kepala Daerah dan Wakil Kepala Daerah/Pemilukada). They are staggered elections for executive
heads and vice heads of the 33 provinces (excluding Yogyakarta, see later) and 502 regencies/municipalities.
These elections happen throughout the year, except in national election years. Thus there is always an
imminent election - either local or national - somewhere in Indonesia.
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Five provinces have special status that allows various differences to the general electoral law: Aceh for the
local use of sharia law and local political parties; Yogyakarta as a sultanate; Papua and West Papua with
special autonomy; and Jakarta as a special capital region. In 2012 the government enacted a special autonomy
law for Yogyakarta that regulates that the Sultan of Yogyakarta is appointed as the governor of the province.
Province elections: The chief executive of a province is a Governor, joined by a Vice Governor. They are
elected as a pair for a five-year term with a plurality of at least 30 percent of the vote (50 percent in Jakarta).
If such a plurality is not achieved, a second round between the top two candidate pairs will take place.
Regency/municipality elections: The chief executives at the regency and municipality level are the Regent
(Bupati in rural areas) and Mayor (Walikota in cities), respectively. With their respective deputies, they are
elected as a pair for a five-year term with a plurality of at least 30 percent of the vote. These
regency/municipality elections sometimes happen on the same day as the province level but are often on a
different schedule altogether.
Kecamatan appointments: The 508 regencies/municipalities are administratively sub-divided into a total of
6,994 subdistricts (kecamatan). The head (camat) of the subdistrict is appointed by the Regent/Mayor at
regency/municipality level).
Ward/village appointments and elections: An administrative ward/village refers to divisions within the
subdistricts, and is the lowest formal level of government administration in Indonesia. Across the country, there
are 8,309 kelurahan (defined as an administrative ward under a city) and 72,944 desa (defined as an
administrative village under a rural regency7). The head (lurah) of a Kelurahan is a civil servant appointed by the
subdistrict head. In contrast, the head (kepala desa) of a desa is a civilian that is directly elected by villagers in
more informal and locally organized elections. These elections also take place in a staggered manner
throughout the years, but in this case for a six-year term.

Political Parties and Candidates

Indonesia has a multi-party system. According to the Human Rights Ministrys records, there are 73 political
parties formally registered as institutions. However, Law 8/2012 requires that each political party
additionally undergoes a registration and verification process with the national election commission to run
in a given election. In 2009, there were 38 national political parties and an additional six Acehnese political
parties that competed in Aceh only. Nine political parties won seats in the DPR at the national level. After
the 2009 election the nine political parties amended the electoral laws and set a much higher bar for
registering, competing and winning in the election. Barriers, which are high by international norms, include
that a political party must have chapters in all 33 provinces (permanent office required), in at least 75
percent of the regencies/municipalities in each Province (permanent office required), and in at least 50
percent of the subdistricts within each regency/municipality (permanent office not required). For the 2014
election, 46 political parties pursued registration but only twelve national political parties and three local
political parties (allowed to contest in Aceh only, in competition with national parties) succeeded and will
now be on the ballots. They are listed below based on their contesting number with parenthetical
information about votes gained in 2009 elections, where applicable.
1. NasDem - National Democrat Party (new political party)
2. PKB - National Awakening Party (4.95 percent votes/27 DPR seats in 2009)
3. PKS Prosperous Justice Party (7.89 percent votes/57 DPR seats in 2009)
4. PDI-P - Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle (14.01 percent votes/95 DPR seats in 2009)
5. Golkar - Functional Group Party (14.45 percent votes/107 DPR seats in 2009)
6. Gerindra - Great Indonesia Movement Party (4.46 percent votes/26 DPR seats in 2009)
7. PD - Democratic Party (20.81 percent votes/150 DPR seats in 2009, party of the current president)
8. PAN - National Mandate Party (6.03 percent votes/43 DPR seats in 2009)
7 Some recently urbanized areas still have the administrative status of a desa, as the administrative system in those areas has not yet caught up to
demographic changes.

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9. PPP - United Development Party (5.33 percent votes/33 DPR seats in 2009)
10. Hanura - Peoples Conscience Party (3.77 percent votes/18 DPR seats in 2009)
11. PDA - Aceh Peace Party (new political party, running in Aceh only)
12. PNA - Aceh National Party (new political party, running in Aceh only)
13. PA- Aceh Party (running in Aceh only; 43.9 percent votes/33 of 69 DPR Aceh Province seats in 2009)
14. PBB Crescent Star Party (no DPR seats in 2009)
15. PKPI - Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (no DPR seats in 2009).
Nonpartisan candidates are only allowed to compete for the 132 DPD seats and for governor, regent,
mayor and village head (i.e., all DPR and DPRD candidates must be nominated by political parties).
Nonetheless, rarely are nonpartisan candidates successful in elections for governor, regent and mayor.
Political parties have limited internal democracy and, generally, party candidates are decided by party
elites.

Election Management Bodies

KPU
The National Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum/KPU) is the independent election management
body responsible for the conduct of national and regional elections as mandated by the constitution and
Law 15/2011. The Commission consists of seven commissioners (currently six men and one woman). These
commissioners were identified through a rigid selection process and then inaugurated by the President on
12 April 2012 for a five-year term. The Chairman (Ketua) of the KPU is elected for a five-year term in a
closed-vote plenary meeting of the KPU when it first constitutes itself. The post is currently held by Husni
Kamil Manik. The other six commissioners are: Ida Budhiati, Sigit Pamungkas, Arief Budiman, Ferry Kurnia
Rizkiyansyah, Hadar Nafis Gumay and Juri Ardiantoro.
The KPU Secretariat, led by the Secretary-General, is the executive arm of the KPU responsible for the
administration of the organization at the national level. The Secretary-General is usually nominated by the
KPU and then appointed for a five-year term by the President. On 1 February 2013, the KPU appointed Arif
Rahman Hakim as the new Secretary General. Since 2007, the KPU has been able to recruit its own
permanent civil servant staff, although for now these remain at the junior level. Prior to 2007, most staff
transfers came from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), and until the KPUs own-hired staff develop
sufficient seniority, the KPU will remain dependent on such transfers for its middle and senior
management.
The Commission and Secretariat structures are replicated regionally throughout the provinces and
regencies/municipalities, which each have five commissioners.8 The KPU has approximately 13,915 staff
and 2,659 Commissioners in 531 offices across Indonesia.
BAWASLU & Electoral Dispute Resolution (EDR)
Election Oversight Body (Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum/Bawaslu) is the institution in charge of
overseeing that an electoral complaint is directed to the appropriate body and resolved correctly; broadly,
criminal matters are referred to the police/courts, and administrative matters to the KPU. Bawaslu
commissioners are elected for a five-year term in the same manner as the KPU Commissioners. Currently,
Bawaslu consists of: Muhammad (Chairman), Nasrullah, Endang Wihdatiningtyas, Daniel Zuchron, and
Nelson Simanjuntak. Law 8/2012 on Legislative Election gives the Bawaslu the adjudicatory power to solve
all disputes between KPU and election contestants. The Bawaslu rulings are final, with the exception of
matters relating to political party and legislative candidate registrations. Unsolved disputes on these two
matters may be filed to the Administrative High Court (PTUN) with an opportunity for appeal with the
Supreme Court (MA) where the rulings are considered final and binding. Serious electoral violations with a
potential to affect the results are filed directly with the Constitutional Court. Although such a role is
unusual for a constitutional court, the perceived credibility of the court in Indonesia contributed
8

With the exception of Aceh Province, which has seven commissioners.

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significantly to the positive outcome of the 2009 elections. Election crimes reported to the police are tried
by the Public Court (PN) and rulings may be appealed to the Public High Court (PTN) where the decisions
are final and binding.
Provisions in Law 15/2011 establish the Bawaslu and the KPU as equal and separate institutions.
Commissioners of the Bawaslu are selected by the same selection committee that selects the KPU
commissioners. There are five permanent members of the Bawaslu at the national level. Its regional
counterpart, Provincial Bawaslu, is now a permanent institution consisting of three members in each
province. At levels below the Provincial Bawaslu, membership is not permanent and consists of the
following: three members at the regency/municipal level, three at the subdistrict level and one field
supervisor at every ward/village level. This type of oversight body is unique to Indonesia; in most countries,
this function is carried out by the election commission itself.
DKPP
Law 15/2011 also establishes the Honorary Council of Election Management Bodies (Dewan Kehormatan
Penyelenggara Pemilu/DKPP). The DKPP is a national-level ethics council established to review and decide
upon complaints and/or reports of alleged violations of the code of ethics committed by members of the
KPU and Bawaslu. The DKPP is established within two months of the inauguration of KPU and Bawaslu
members for a five-year term, and consists of one KPU commissioner, one Bawaslu commissioner and five
community leaders. Currently, they are: H. Jimly Asshiddiqie (Chairman), Ida Budhiati (KPU), Nelson
Simanjuntak (Bawaslu), Abdul Bari Azed, Valina Singka Subekti, Saut Hamonangan Sirait, and Nur Hidayat
Sardini. Also unique to Indonesia, the DKPP ensures that the work of KPU and Bawaslu commissioners
meets the joint code of conduct; the council has powers to recommend commissioners dismissal. The
DKPPs rulings are final and binding.

Further Information
For further information consider researching the following resources:

Indonesian Electoral Information website: http://www.rumahpemilu.org

KPU website: http://www.kpu.go.id/
Bawaslu website: http://www.bawaslu.go.id/
DKPP website: http://www.DKPP.go.id/
Portal for the Republic of Indonesia: http://www.indonesia.go.id/en/
House of Representatives website: http://dpr.go.id/
DPD website: www.dpd.go.id
Constitutional Court website: http://www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id
ACE Electoral Knowledge Network: http://www.aceproject.org/

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