INDONESIA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Indonesia is a multiparty ...

INDONESIA 19
and that former refugees continued to return to Timor Leste in small but increasing
numbers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their
Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully,
and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections
held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation
The constitution provides for national elections every five years. DPR members
automatically are members of the People’s Consultative Assembly, a fully elected
body consisting of the 550 DPR members and 128 members of the House of
Regional Representatives (DPD).
Recent Elections: In 2009 President Yudhoyono was reelected overwhelmingly.
Also in 2009 the country conducted its third democratic legislative elections. In
general, domestic and foreign observers found the elections free and fair. The
elections were a complex affair with voters receiving ballots for the DPR, the
DPD, provincial parliaments, and regency and city councils. Thirty-eight national
parties competed in the elections, with an additional six parties in Aceh Province
only. Irregularities occurred, requiring 245 reruns in 10 provinces. Observers
concluded the vast majority of irregularities involved logistical difficulties
(primarily due to faulty voter list data) rather than malfeasance. Some violence
and intimidation also marred the legislative election campaign in Aceh, Papua, and
West Papua.
Political parties were required to win a minimum of 2.5 percent of the national vote
to qualify for a seat in the DPR. In 2009 nine parties met this threshold and won
seats in parliament. The top three vote getters were secular, nationalist parties,
followed by the four largest Islamic-oriented parties. President Yudhoyono’s
Democrat Party won a plurality of seats, while then-vice president Kalla’s Golkar
Party finished in second place. The major opposition party, the Indonesia
Democratic Party-Struggle, led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, finished in third place.
All adult citizens, age 17 or older, are eligible to vote except active members of the
military and the police, convicts serving a sentence of five years or more, persons
suffering from mental disorders, and persons deprived of voting rights by an
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor