Die indonesischen Wahlen von 1987: Traditionelle Strukturen im Wandel?

Abstract The election held on the 23rd of April 1987 may not have changed the political powers in Indonesia a great deal. It may - on the contrary - even have strengthened the position of the governing GOLKAR, but the result of the election shows changes in the attitude of the electorate that allow controversial interpretation. Two of the striking features of the result of the election are the great losses suffered by the PPP (a merger of Islamic parties) in their previous strongholds and the gains of the PDI mainly in the metropolitan areas (e.g. in Jakarta). While some commentators interpret the PPP’s losses as an indication of the electorate’s turning away from primordial voting and as a first step to more rational political orientation, the authors regard the PPP’s losses, particularly in Eastem Java, as the result of the NU’s breaking away from the PPP and its reorientation towards GOLKAR and hence as an indication of continued primordialism. On the other hand the PDI’s gains in the metropolitan areas and among young voters in particular also show that primordial voting is beginning to be replaced by voting “influenced by political moods”.