Clientelism

• After the first election of the post-authoritarian period in 1999, women’s representation was a paltry 8.8%, so the rise to 20.9% in 2019 seemed worth celebrating.
• Disappointed with the results of the first two elections, they had successfully pushed for a candidate quota, requiring parties to nominate at least 30% women.
• But given the barriers women candidates in Indonesia face, is the quota enough to raise representation?

Representation better, but not enough

• Under Indonesia’s open list proportional representation system, parties decide on candidate placement on the list, but voters can choose any candidate.
• In the past three elections, the quota has meant that in every electoral district at all three levels of parliament, women had to make up at least 30% of candidates.
• Given the 2014 election had seen a slight fall in women’s representation, activists were relieved.

Barriers of patriarchy, money and name recognition

• The main barrier to greater representation tends to be that women don’t stand for office.
• When they do, political parties don’t nominate them, or put them in unwinnable positions.
• But our research has revealed that women candidates in Indonesia also face significant barriers from patriarchal attitudes held by many voters about whether women should take on political leadership roles.
• Parties also spend less time developing women cadres to run as candidates, preferring to reach out to such “vote getters”.

What about this time around?

• The barriers to women’s election have not changed and are unlikely to change in the short term.
• Several women politicians were instrumental in the passage of the Anti-Sexual Violence bill that passed last year.
• Now, fractions can be rounded down if under 0.5, so in our example, parties are only required to field two women candidates.
• Democracy activists say that this means almost 18% of party lists do not meet the requirement for 30% women candidates.
• Yet, it has effectively been watered down without public discussion and against the advice of the Supreme Court.

Sally White receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project "Political Representation in Indonesia".