Ex-dictator gains

last updated 8 January 2015

Jakarta

Indonesian voters increased their support for the party of former dictator Suharto in parliamentary elections this week. In only the second election since the dictator was forced to resign, six years ago, Suharto’s party took 22 percent of the vote, while President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s party took just 19 percent. The result was seen as a rebuke to Megawati for rising unemployment, in a country where half of the 212 million people live on less than $2 a day. Simply holding elections in the sprawling archipelago is a prodigious effort, particularly this year, as local elections were held at the same time. All told, Indonesian voters had to select more than 15,000 representatives from among nearly 450,000 candidates.