The May 1997 Indonesian General Elections and Changes in ABRI Leadership in the Context of the Presidential Elections

Abstract

When Indonesians went to the poll on 29 May 1997, there was little doubt that the ruling party, GOLKAR, would win. Months before, GOLKAR’s Chairman, Harmoko had predicted that his party would chalk up 70.02 percent of the votes, an improvement over the 1992 results when the Party suffered a dip with its votes going down to 68 percent. Yet, when the results of the 1997 hustings came, it surprised every one, possibly even GOLKAR, with the ruling party winning 74.51 of the votes (see Table 2.1). The result was endorsed by all the three parties contesting the election, namely, GOLKAR (Functional Group), PPP (United Development Party) and PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party) on 23 June 1997.