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1955 Indonesian legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 29 September 1955 to elect all 257 members of the House of Representatives. They were the first national elections to be held in the country following independence and would see over 37 million votes cast in over 93 thousand polling stations. The election results were inconclusive, as no party was given a clear mandate. Following negotiations, Ali Sastroamidjojo was able to form a coalition government consisting of the Indonesian National Party, the Masyumi Party, and Nahdlatul Ulama.
The legislature formed through the election served from 1956 to 1959 and was eventually dissolved by President Sukarno via presidential decree. Thereafter, there would be no national elections held in Indonesia until after his overthrow, when the New Order regime of President Suharto conducted legislative elections in 1971.
The first elections were originally planned for January 1946, but because the Indonesian National Revolution was still underway, this was not possible. After the war, every cabinet had elections in its program. In February 1951 the Natsir cabinet introduced an election bill, but the cabinet fell before it could be debated. The next cabinet, led by Sukiman did hold some regional elections. Finally, in February 1952, the Wilopo cabinet introduced a bill for voter registration. Discussions in the House of Representatives did not start until September because of various objections from the political parties. According to Feith, there were three factors. Firstly, legislators were worried about losing their seats; secondly they were worried about a possible swing to Islamic parties and thirdly an electoral system in accordance with the Provisional Constitution of 1950 would mean less representation for regions outside Java.
Given the fact that cabinets had fallen after introducing controversial measures, there was reluctance to introduce an election bill and there were concerns about possible political conflicts caused by electioneering. However, many political leaders wanted elections as the existing legislature was based on a compromise with the Netherlands (the erstwhile colonial power) and as such had little popular authority. They also believed elections would bring about greater political stability. The "17 October 1952 affair", when armed soldiers in front of the palace demanded dissolution of the legislature, led to greater demands from all parties for early elections. By 25 November, an elections bill had been submitted to the House of Representatives. After 18 weeks of debate and 200 proposed amendments, the bill passed on 1 April 1953 and became law on 4 April. It stipulated one member of the legislature for 150,000 residents and gave the right to vote to everybody over the age of 18, or who was or had been married. Once the bill had passed the cabinet began appointing members of the Central Electoral Committee. This was to have one member from each government party and an independent chairman. However, the Indonesian National Party (PNI) protested that they had no members on the committee, and this dispute was still unresolved when the cabinet fell on 2 June.
On 25 August 1953 the new prime minister, Ali Sastroamidjojo, announced a 16-month schedule for elections starting from January 1954. On 4 November the government announced a new Central Electoral Committee chaired by PNI member S. Hadikusomo and including all the parties represented in the government, namely Nahdatul Ulama (NU), the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (PSII) the Indonesian People's Party (PRI), the National People's Party (PRN), the Labor Party and the Peasants Front of Indonesia (BTI), as well as the government-supporting Islamic Education Movement (Perti) and the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo).
The 257 seats of the House of Representatives were elected in 16 multi-member constituencies, with the number of seats in each constituency being proportional to its population size. The elections were held using proportional representation, with seats allocated using the largest remainder method and Hare quota in each constituency. Seats that remained unfilled due to parties not meeting the quota were then filled nationally, also using the largest remainder method and Hare quota. Any seats still remaining were allocated to parties with the largest number of remaining votes. Overall, 190 seats were elected with the constituency quota and 47 seats were elected with the national quota, with the 20 remaining seats elected in the last step.
The electoral system caused a discrepancy between apportioned and elected seats in a constituency, with East Java and Central Java each gaining five seats, West Java gaining two seats, and East Nusa Tenggara gaining one seat more than they were originally apportioned, while the remaining constituencies lost either one or three seats, with the exception of Central Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara which elected the same amount of seats as they were apportioned.
According to Feith, the first phase of the election campaign began on 4 April 1953 when the election bill passed into law, and the second phase when the Central Electoral Committee approved the party symbols on 31 May 1954.
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1955 Indonesian legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 29 September 1955 to elect all 257 members of the House of Representatives. They were the first national elections to be held in the country following independence and would see over 37 million votes cast in over 93 thousand polling stations. The election results were inconclusive, as no party was given a clear mandate. Following negotiations, Ali Sastroamidjojo was able to form a coalition government consisting of the Indonesian National Party, the Masyumi Party, and Nahdlatul Ulama.
The legislature formed through the election served from 1956 to 1959 and was eventually dissolved by President Sukarno via presidential decree. Thereafter, there would be no national elections held in Indonesia until after his overthrow, when the New Order regime of President Suharto conducted legislative elections in 1971.
The first elections were originally planned for January 1946, but because the Indonesian National Revolution was still underway, this was not possible. After the war, every cabinet had elections in its program. In February 1951 the Natsir cabinet introduced an election bill, but the cabinet fell before it could be debated. The next cabinet, led by Sukiman did hold some regional elections. Finally, in February 1952, the Wilopo cabinet introduced a bill for voter registration. Discussions in the House of Representatives did not start until September because of various objections from the political parties. According to Feith, there were three factors. Firstly, legislators were worried about losing their seats; secondly they were worried about a possible swing to Islamic parties and thirdly an electoral system in accordance with the Provisional Constitution of 1950 would mean less representation for regions outside Java.
Given the fact that cabinets had fallen after introducing controversial measures, there was reluctance to introduce an election bill and there were concerns about possible political conflicts caused by electioneering. However, many political leaders wanted elections as the existing legislature was based on a compromise with the Netherlands (the erstwhile colonial power) and as such had little popular authority. They also believed elections would bring about greater political stability. The "17 October 1952 affair", when armed soldiers in front of the palace demanded dissolution of the legislature, led to greater demands from all parties for early elections. By 25 November, an elections bill had been submitted to the House of Representatives. After 18 weeks of debate and 200 proposed amendments, the bill passed on 1 April 1953 and became law on 4 April. It stipulated one member of the legislature for 150,000 residents and gave the right to vote to everybody over the age of 18, or who was or had been married. Once the bill had passed the cabinet began appointing members of the Central Electoral Committee. This was to have one member from each government party and an independent chairman. However, the Indonesian National Party (PNI) protested that they had no members on the committee, and this dispute was still unresolved when the cabinet fell on 2 June.
On 25 August 1953 the new prime minister, Ali Sastroamidjojo, announced a 16-month schedule for elections starting from January 1954. On 4 November the government announced a new Central Electoral Committee chaired by PNI member S. Hadikusomo and including all the parties represented in the government, namely Nahdatul Ulama (NU), the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (PSII) the Indonesian People's Party (PRI), the National People's Party (PRN), the Labor Party and the Peasants Front of Indonesia (BTI), as well as the government-supporting Islamic Education Movement (Perti) and the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo).
The 257 seats of the House of Representatives were elected in 16 multi-member constituencies, with the number of seats in each constituency being proportional to its population size. The elections were held using proportional representation, with seats allocated using the largest remainder method and Hare quota in each constituency. Seats that remained unfilled due to parties not meeting the quota were then filled nationally, also using the largest remainder method and Hare quota. Any seats still remaining were allocated to parties with the largest number of remaining votes. Overall, 190 seats were elected with the constituency quota and 47 seats were elected with the national quota, with the 20 remaining seats elected in the last step.
The electoral system caused a discrepancy between apportioned and elected seats in a constituency, with East Java and Central Java each gaining five seats, West Java gaining two seats, and East Nusa Tenggara gaining one seat more than they were originally apportioned, while the remaining constituencies lost either one or three seats, with the exception of Central Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara which elected the same amount of seats as they were apportioned.
According to Feith, the first phase of the election campaign began on 4 April 1953 when the election bill passed into law, and the second phase when the Central Electoral Committee approved the party symbols on 31 May 1954.