1999 Indonesian presidential election
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Presidential election
20 October 1999 (1999-10-20)
All 700 members of the MPR
351 votes needed to win
 
Candidate Abdurrahman Wahid Megawati Sukarnoputri
Party PKB PDI-P
Electoral vote 373 313
Percentage 54.37% 45.63%
President before election

B. J. Habibie
Golkar

Elected President

Abdurrahman Wahid
PKB

Vice-presidential election
21 October 1999 (1999-10-21)
All 700 members of the MPR
351 votes needed to win
 
Candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri Hamzah Haz
Party PDI-P PPP
Electoral vote 396 284
Percentage 58.24% 41.76%
Vice President before election

Vacant

 Elected Vice President

Megawati Sukarnoputri
PDI-P

This article is part of a series on the
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From 20 to 21 October 1999, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the legislative branch of Indonesia, met to elect both the president and vice president of the country for a five-year term. The incumbent president, B. J. Habibie, declined to stand for election. On 20 October, Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama, was elected president and inaugurated on the same day. Wahid's opponent, Megawati Sukarnoputri was subsequently elected vice president the next day.[1] The elections represented the first relatively democratic and peaceful transfer of power in the history of Indonesia.[2]

Background

In October, the People's Consultative Assembly made up of the People's Representative Council and 200 nominated members from the military and selected civilians, a total of 700, met to elect the President and Vice President.

There were initially four candidates for the presidency; Abdurrahman Wahid, B. J. Habibie, Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Yusril Ihza Mahendra. However Habibie refused the nomination from Golkar after his accountability speech was rejected by the MPR the day before election, while Yusril withdrew his candidacy on election day.[3]

Election day

On 20 October Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the PKB was elected, beating Megawati Sukarnoputri by 373 votes to 313, although her party (PDI-P) won the most votes in the legislative election and had one-third of the parliamentary seats. This triggered riots among Megawati's supporters. The following day, Megawati was nominated by Gus Dur's party (PKB) as vice president and got elected, beating Hamzah Haz from the PPP by 396 votes to 284. This ended the street protests.[4][5]

This was the first and last democratically indirect presidential election in Indonesia and the first presidential election that did not feature a candidate from the ruling party (Golkar).

Result

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Abdurrahman WahidNational Awakening Party37354.37
Megawati SukarnoputriIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle31345.63
Total686100.00
Valid votes68699.28
Invalid/blank votes50.72
Total votes691100.00
Registered voters/turnout70098.71

Vice president

CandidatePartyVotes%
Megawati SukarnoputriIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle39658.24
Hamzah HazUnited Development Party28441.76
Total680100.00
Valid votes68099.27
Invalid/blank votes50.73
Total votes685100.00
Registered voters/turnout70097.86

References

  1. ^ "Pemilihan Presiden dari Masa ke Masa". news.Detik.com. Detik News. Oct 19, 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  2. ^ National Democratic Institute (28 November 1999). The 1999 Presidential Election and Post-Election Developments in Indonesia: a Post Election Assessment Report. National Democratic Institute. p. 4.
  3. ^ Djadja Suparman (2013). Jejak kudeta, 1997-2005 catatan harian Letnan Jenderal (Purn) TNI Djadja Suparman. Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia. p. 208. ISBN 9789794618370. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  4. ^ Friend, Theodore (2003) Indonesian Destinies, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, pp. 461–462 ISBN 978-0-6740113-7-3
  5. ^ Ricklefs, M.C (2008). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1200 (Fourth ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 539. ISBN 978-0-230-54685-1.
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