Introduction

The challenges posed by the 2019 election were not only important in terms of implementing a new election mechanism, namely concurrent elections, but also in supporting the establishment of better democracy. Democracy itself has today created opportunities for people, political parties and non-governmental organizations to play greater roles in the decision-making process. It also has given the people greater freedom of expression, including the freedom to oppose the government. People in general have more political options as no party has absolute power any longer. Democracy has also allowed for regular, peaceful change of leadership for more than twenty years now.

On the other hand, democracy in Indonesia is not advanced yet. Some observers view Indonesian politics as still being under the control of oligarchs (Robison and Hadiz 2004; Winters 2014). The rule of law in general is still weak as is genuine participation, creating an artificial form of political representation. Corruption and money politics, mainly related to electoral contestation, still occur at both national and local levels (Aspinall and Berenschot 2019; Muhtadi 2019; Aspinall and Sukmajati 2015; Amrullah 2009; Choi 2007) and detract from the fairness and equality that the election system is supposed to deliver. There is a tendency to create cartels rather than government with accountability (Ambardi 2009). In recent years, the authorities have shown a streak of authoritarianism by arbitrarily arresting anyone who opposed or criticized the government (Power 2018). Moreover, Indonesian political contestation is coloured by primordial issues, identity politics and populism, rather than policy programmes. Those conditions indicate that the flaws of Indonesia democracy—the tendency towards oligarchism—still hold, as pointed out by several scholars (Slater 2004; Davidson 2009; Slater and Simmons 2012; Bunte and Ufen 2009; Aspinall and Mietzner 2010; Ford and Pepinsky 2014). Indonesian democracy has been rated mediocre or even low by various national and domestic observers, including Asian Democracy Index (4.9/10), Economist Intelligence Unit (6.39/10) and Freedom House (Partly Free).

This chapter will discuss the quality of the 2019 election and its relation to Indonesian democracy, which is believed to be experiencing potential stagnation. Specifically, the chapter will explore questions such as: how the quality of Indonesia's political conditions is connected to the quality of elections, what the causes of democratic stagnation are, and what should be done to overcome stagnation.