Indonesia's 2009 Elections: The New Electoral System & the Competing Parties
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| CDI Director Ben Reilly, IPD Director Ketut Erawan, and CDI Associate Stephen Sherlock feature in these photos from the joint CDI-IPD Seminar held in Bali on 30 March 2009. |
Indonesia's 2009 presidential and parliamentary election marks an important milestone - the third successive open and democratic election of the modern era. Indonesia is now clearly the most democratic country in Southeast Asia, and an increasingly influential model as the world's largest Muslim democracy.
However, the 2009 elections also have the potential to throw up some major challenges for Indonesian democratization. Most notably, the Indonesian election system has undergone some major reform. Most notable of these is the new 'open list' voting system, which restricts electors to voting for candidates rather than political parties, and which is likely to have a significant effect on political behaviour and the future development of the Indonesian party system.
CDI joined with the new Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) to hold a special one-day seminar on these issues on 30 March 2009 in Bali, Indonesia. The seminar featured presentations from CDI Director Ben Reilly and IPD Director Ketut Erawan, as well as the findings of CDI's new research paper, "Indonesia's 2009 Elections: The New Electoral System & the Competing Parties", by CDI Associate Stephen Sherlock. The paper suggests some of the ways that the new laws will affect the conduct of the campaign, the nature of coalition building and the possible results.
Over 100 political figures, academics, diplomats, and government officials attended this CDI-IPD seminar, the first joint event between both organisations.
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