Indonesia: Personalities, Parties, and Voters

Issue Date April 2010
Volume 21
Issue 2
Page Numbers 35-49
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

In Indonesia’s third national elections since democratization in 1999, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono easily won reelection, while his Democratic Party tripled its vote from the previous 2004 election. Voters in the parliamentary and presidential contests, held in April and July 2009, were motivated, according to two author-conducted nationwide opinion surveys, by support for individual leaders and candidates, the influence of media campaigns, perceptions of the state of the economy, evaluations of governmental performance, and (though declining) identification with political parties. Effects include a strengthened and more responsive presidency at the cost of a more fragmented and volatile party system.

About the Authors

Saiful Mujani

Saiful Mujani is professor of political science at the Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta.

View all work by Saiful Mujani

R. William Liddle

R. William Liddle is professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University.

View all work by R. William Liddle