2005–2014 local elections in Indonesia

During the Suharto presidency, executive officials including the President of Indonesia and regional leaders were elected by members of legislatures.[1] For regional leaders, this amounted to a vote by the relevant Regional House of Representatives (DPRD). In practice, due to the dominance of the ruling party Golkar, regional leaders were effectively central government appointees. After the fall of Suharto, the national House of Representatives passed a law in 2004 which mandated direct elections of local leaders.[2] The law also set that election dates for the regional leaders would be set by the respective regions, with terms of leaders expiring in December 2004 – April 2005 being extended to May 2005.[3]

In order for the local elections to not interfere with the 2009 Indonesian legislative election, no local elections were held in 2009.[4] In 2014, the gubernatorial election for Lampung province was held simultaneously with the 2014 Indonesian legislative election, delayed from its initial schedule of 2013.[5] The separate elections were criticized for their high cost – in 2010, a regency/city election typically cost the government around Rp 10 billion while a provincial election cost around Rp 70 billion. The total expense of the elections in 2010 nationally was comparable to the total available funding for the Ministry of Social Affairs.[6] The high cost for the candidates were also blamed for increasing corruption, with over 170 local leaders being arrested or investigated for corruption in 2004 to 2012.[6]

Nearly 1,000 local elections were held between 2005 and 2013, averaging around one election every three days.[6] Afterwards, in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020, all local elections in the same year are held simultaneously nationwide[7] and, starting in 2024, all local elections nationwide are held simultaneously.[8] Prior to this, some provinces had already synchronized their gubernatorial and city/regency elections, such as Aceh in 2012.[9]