Indonesian legislative election, 1999

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7 June 1999

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462 (of 500) seats of the People's Representative Council

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Megawati Soekarnoputri	Akbar Tanjung	Matori Abdul Djalil
Party	PDI–P	Golkar	PKB
Last election	New party	325 seats, 74.51%	New party
Seats won	153	120	51
Seat change	New party	205	New party
Popular vote	35,689,073	23,741,749	13,336,982
Percentage	33.76%	22.46%	12.62%
Swing	New party	50.05%	New party

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Hamzah Haz	Amien Rais	Yusril Ihza Mahendra
Party	PPP	PAN	Crescent Star Party
Last election	89 seats, 22.43%	New party	New party
Seats won	51	34	13
Seat change	31	New party	New party
Popular vote	11,329,905	7,528,956	2,049,708
Percentage	10.71%	7.12%	1.94%
Swing	11.72%	New party	New party

leadership before election

MPR: Harmoko (Golkar)
DPR: Harmoko (Golkar)

New leadership

MPR: Amien Rais (PAN)
DPR: Akbar Tanjung (Golkar)

MPR: Harmoko (Golkar)
DPR: Harmoko (Golkar)

MPR: Amien Rais (PAN)
DPR: Akbar Tanjung (Golkar)

The Indonesian legislative election, 1999, held on June 7, 1999, was the first election since the end of the New Order and the first free election in Indonesia since 1955. With the ending of restrictions on political activity following the fall of Suharto, a total of 48 parties contested the 462 seats up for election in the People's Representative Council. A further 38 seats were reserved for the armed forces.

Under the New Order, only two political parties forcibly merged in 1973 plus the functional group 'Golkar' had been allowed to participate in elections. With the start of the Reform Era, more than 100 new political parties emerged. New elections were called for 1999 and 148 parties registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Of these, only 48 passed the selection process, overseen by intellectual Nurcholish Madjid The elections were to be overseen by an independent General Elections Commission (KPU) of 53 members, one from each party and five government representatives

The system used was based on proportional representation at the provincial level. Within each province, parties were awarded seats in proportion to their share of the vote. The largest number of seats was in East Java province, with 82, while the lowest was in Bengkulu and East Timor with 4 each. Voters chose parties, not people as the candidate list was closed, meaning the decision as to who would sit in the legislature was decided by the parties.

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