Законодательные выборы в Индонезии в 2004 году

None

Legislative elections were held in on 5 April 2004 for both houses of the People's Consultative Assembly of Indonesia. This included all 550 seats in the People's Representative Council and 128 seats of the newly formed Regional Representative Council. Final results of the popular vote tally showed that Golkar, the former ruling party of the New Order era, received the most votes. It had lost to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in the 1999 legislative election. The Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party, two of the newest parties to participate in the elections, received a combined 14.8% of the popular vote. Based on the final allocation of seats in the People's Representative Council, Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the National Awakening Party, the United Development Party, the Democratic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party, and the National Mandate Party were qualified to submit candidates for the country's first direct presidential election later in the year. The election has been described as the most complicated election in the history of democracy.

During its 2002 annual session, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) added 14 amendments to the Constitution of Indonesia. Included in these amendments were measures to reorganise the legislature. Beginning in 2004, the MPR was composed of the existing People's Representative Council (DPR) and a new Regional Representative Council (DPD). Because all the seats in the MPR were directly elected, this called for the removal of the military from the legislature, whose 38 seats in the Assembly were appointed. This change and an amendment for direct election of the President and Vice President were significant steps for Indonesia on the road towards full democracy. On 13 July 2003, President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed into effect a law outlining the composition of the reorganised MPR. The new DPD was composed of four representatives from each of the 32 provinces of Indonesia, not totalling more than one third of the members of the DPR. The revised constitution also set membership in the DPR at 550.

During the first phases of registration, 150 parties were registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. However, this number was reduced to 50 and then 24 after scrutiny from the newly created General Election Commission. This reduction from the 48 parties that stood in the 1999 legislative election was attributed mainly to a new election law that allowed only parties that had won 2% of seats in the DPR, or 3% of seats in provincial and municipal legislatures in half of the provinces to stand in the 2004 election. Only six parties met this requirement, and the remaining parties were required to merge or reorganise into a new party. The campaign period for parties and candidates began on 11 March and continued until 1 April. It was split into two phases by Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence. Parties delivered their national agendas indoors between 11 and 25 March. Although this was meant to encourage dialogue between parties and their constituents, these events were poorly attended. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems conducted a tracking survey that showed not all voters knew how to vote for candidates of the new DPD, or were even aware it existed.

The election results determined which political parties were eligible to submit candidates for Indonesia's first direct presidential election, which was held on 5 July. Only parties that received 5% of the popular vote or 3% of seats in the People's Representative Council could submit candidates. Parties that did not meet these criteria had to join with other parties to meet at least one criterion. The counting of votes took one month, and the final results were announced on 5 May, one week later than was initially scheduled. Of 148,000,369 registered voters, 124,420,339 ballots (84.06%) were submitted. Of these ballots, 113,462,414 were considered valid, and 10,957,925 were declared invalid. In the People's Representative Council, Golkar received the most number of seats. It had previously lost to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in the 1999 legislative election after being in power since 1970. However, fourteen of the twenty four participating parties refused to certify the election results after allegations of irregular vote counting.

The 2004 legislative election was the most complicated in Indonesian history because Indonesians had to vote for representatives at the national, provincial, and regental levels. These factors made Indonesia's electoral system unique from other systems in the world. The election was described as the longest and most complicated election in the history of democracy and secured the nation's place as the world's third largest democracy. Seven political parties met the criteria to submit candidates for the July presidential election: Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party (PD), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and the National Mandate Party (PAN). The PKS was the only party not to nominate candidates, but it threw its support behind PAN's Amien Rais. Both houses then convened together in the early morning of 2 October and took the oath of office as the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Ginandjar Kartasasmita was elected the inaugural chairman of the DPD with 72 of 128 votes in a run off against Irman Gusman on 1 October. The following day, Agung Laksono of Golkar was elected Speaker of the DPR by a vote of 280 to 257. The Chairman of the MPR was not elected until several days later when Hidayat Nur Wahid of the PKS won the vote 326 to 324 against PDI P's Sutjipto. On 5 October three regencies were carved out of the province of South Sulawesi to form West Sulawesi as the 33rd province of Indonesia. Because this occurred after the elections, West Sulawesi was not represented in the Regional Representative Council until the 2009 legislative election.