Parliamentary Elections
The European Union observed the Indonesian legislative election held on June 7, 1999. It was the first election since the end of the New Order and the first free election in Indonesia since 1955. With the ending of restrictions on political activity following the fall of Suharto, a total of 48 parties contested the 462 seats up for election in the People's Representative Council. A further 38 seats were reserved for the armed forces. In a truly impressive display of enthusiasm for and commitment to democracy, a very high percentage of Indonesia’s more than 112 million eligible voters came to the polls.
These election represented a decisive step forward in Indonesia's transition from authoritarian rule to democratic governance. It resulted, for the first time in Indonesia's history, in a peaceful transfer of power. This observation mission was one of the first decisions of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy after the establishment of the EU competence by the Maastricht Treaty. Before 2000, election observations were deployed and formated on an ad hoc political basis.
Precise criteria whether to deploy or not, as well as detailled working structure and methodology were defined in the EC Communication COM2000(199).
