The 2004 Indonesian Presidential Election

Why was the 2004 election historic?

Every earlier Indonesian president had reached office through revolutionary appointment, parliamentary or assembly selection, or constitutional succession. The Reformasi amendments changed Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution so citizens would choose a president and vice president as a ticket.

The rules required more than a simple plurality in the first round: a ticket needed over half the national vote and at least twenty per cent in more than half the provinces. If no one crossed that combined threshold, the top two pairs would meet again. In 2004 that runoff provision became real rather than theoretical.

Who were the five candidate pairs?

Incumbent president Megawati Sukarnoputri ran with Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi. Retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had left Megawati’s cabinet, partnered with businessman and Golkar politician Jusuf Kalla under a coalition led by the relatively new Democratic Party.

Golkar nominated former armed-forces commander Wiranto with Salahuddin Wahid. Reform-era opposition figure Amien Rais ran with Siswono Yudo Husodo, while incumbent vice president Hamzah Haz partnered with retired general Agum Gumelar. Abdurrahman Wahid sought to run but did not pass the required health assessment.

What happened in the first round?

SBY’s campaign joined a calm public style with a promise of change, anti-corruption and more effective government. His break with Megawati helped present him as an alternative to the incumbent even though he had served in her administration and built a long military career under the New Order.

The 5 July result placed SBY–Kalla first with 39,838,184 votes, or 33.57 per cent. Megawati–Hasyim received 31,569,104 votes, or 26.61 per cent, ahead of Wiranto–Salahuddin, Amien–Siswono and Hamzah–Agum. The fragmented field ensured that no pair approached the required majority.

How did SBY win the runoff?

The second round turned a five-way competition into a national choice between continuity under Megawati and a new governing coalition led by SBY. Parties that had backed eliminated candidates negotiated again, but endorsement did not transfer every voter as a disciplined bloc.

Yudhoyono and Kalla received 69,266,350 votes, or 60.62 per cent. Megawati and Hasyim received 44,990,704, or 39.38 per cent. The margin gave SBY a broad personal mandate even though his Democratic Party held only a modest share of the newly elected legislature.

What did the result change?

The election separated presidential legitimacy from bargaining inside the MPR. A candidate could build a direct national coalition and defeat an incumbent, while the president still had to negotiate with a fragmented multiparty legislature after taking office.

Megawati’s acceptance of the result and the 20 October transfer were essential. Indonesia had experienced several irregular or disputed transfers since independence; the 2004 sequence showed that an incumbent could lose a competitive direct election and leave office under an agreed constitutional timetable.

The contest also established patterns that continued through later elections: coalition thresholds, paired tickets, nationwide television campaigning, personality-centred parties and judicial resolution of result disputes. The democratic rules would be tested repeatedly, but 2004 supplied their first accepted operating precedent.