Armando Siahaan – Attempts by smaller parties to form confederations in an effort to consolidate power ahead of the 2014 general elections could be quashed by the larger parties that do

Meagan Weymes – East Timor's voters went to the polls Saturday in parliamentary elections seen as a key test for the young and fragile democracy and likely to determine if UN peacekeepe

Jakarta – The National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Golkar Party are encouraging smaller parties to join with them so that they can lobby the senate to increase the electoral threshold f

A number of politicians have pounced on Golkar Party Chairman Aburizal Bakrie's comments that when it came to Indonesian politics it was best for party members to think like rats.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Voters would be better served by smaller political parties joining together to form confederations rather than agreeing to be merged into larger parties, a po

Armando Siahaan – Continuing its effort to court smaller parties, Golkar on Thursday signaled the possibility of a partnership with the Reform Star Party, while at the same time reitera

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Recent maneuvers by the Golkar Party to court smaller organizations connected to the United Development Party are nothing to worry about, the Islamic-based pa

Anita Rachman & Made Arya Kencana – Critics have denounced the General Elections Commission's decision to merely dismiss member Andi Nurpati, saying a dishonorable dismissal would h

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Political parties are cozying up and consolidating as they seek ways to bulk up ahead of the 2014 general elections, an analyst says.

Armando Siahaan – Though the idea is practically dead in the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council on Tuesday revived a controversial proposal to allocate Rp 1

Jakarta – The United Development Party (PPP) said Saturday it would never change its Islamic ideology as had the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which recently declared that it was atte

Armando Siahaan – The Golkar Party's road to power could be waylaid by a feud brewing well before the 2014 general elections, one that could wrest away a sizable number of votes.

Jakarta – The future of the United Development Party (PPP), once the only channel for political Islam in the country, is in jeopardy with one of its affiliated organizations threatening

Anita Rachman – The chairman of the country's second-largest Islamic organization has raised the specter of plotting government officials and parties hijacking the group's national cauc

Armando Siahaan – A top Golkar Party official has denied that a possible tie-up with a conservative Muslim group was aimed at diversifying the party's voter base in light of a perceived

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Golkar Party secretary general Idrus Marham urges all of his party members not to get involved in the National Democrat mass organization.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Ignoring a storm of criticism over the nomination of a well-known human rights activist and government official to the Democratic Party's advisory board, part

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The appointment of noted human rights activists as members of the Democratic Party's new leadership structure is nothing but "window dressing" to cover the r

Armando Siahaan – High-ranking members of the country's three largest political parties on Monday said they were not threatened by the Prosperous Justice Party's declared ambition to fi

Armando Siahaan – The Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party's national congress ended Sunday with a big push toward pluralism and a goal of becoming the third-largest party in the coun

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) may have a plan to embrace pluralism and become more inclusive in order to woo more voters, but a senior member's ver

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Democratic Party chief patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono lashed out at the Golkar Party for resorting to threats to have its so-called pork barrel proposal approv

Aubrey Belford, Pacitan (Indonesia) – In Indonesia, a singing politician is hardly a novelty.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) opened its congress Thursday with a vow to remain in the ruling coalition led by the President's Democratic Party and to become more inclusive in a bi

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Stubborn Golkar Party says it will continue proposing the controversial pork barrel financing scheme, also known as aspiration fund, despite opposition

Jakarta – The tentative steps taken by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) toward forging links with the US at its national congress, which will run from June 16 to 20, could help counte

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Democratic Party leaders have shrugged off criticism as they appointed Edhie "Ibas" Baskoro Yudhoyono as secretary-general of the country's largest part

Panca Nugraha and Yemris Fointuna, Mataram/Kupang – A rally to protest the result of the Bima regency election on Monday ended in a brawl between protesters and police in which 12 peopl

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Democratic Party is considering recruiting two prominent human rights activists, Usman Hamid and Rachland Nashidik, to sit on its national leadership boar

Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite weeks of controversy that seemed to kill off the idea, the Golkar Party's proposal to provide billions of rupiah in pork barrel fu

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Incompetence and a lack of independence at every level of several election bodies has led to polling violence, says a watchdog group.

Jakarta – The widespread use of political image projection, including in the recent elections of regional heads, is further driving up the cost of competing in elections.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major political parties called on the House of Representatives on Friday to accelerate revision of the regional administration law, make local elections le

Anita Rachman – The government body tasked with supervising elections warned on Friday of more riots during the "peak season" for local elections from June to July.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' Commission II on home affairs and regional autonomy has called for revision of the law on election administration after finding 30 out of 45 elec

Camelia Pasandaran & Anita Rachman – Just a day after rumors began spreading that the Golkar Party was considering pulling out from the ruling coalition, President Susilo Bambang Yu

Anita Rachman & Armando Siahaan – The Golkar Party has no plans to leave the ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party, it said on Thursday.

Anita Rachman – The Golkar Party's follow-up proposal to allocate Rp 1 billion ($108,000) for development in each of the country's villages and subdistricts, after its earlier plan to g

The Golkar Party is threatening to quit the government's coalition government after two controversial proposals were embarrassingly rejected by the House of Representatives.

Anita Rachman & Irvan Tisnabudi – The Golkar Party's controversial proposal to give each lawmaker Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) to development their constituencies looks all but dead

Armando Siahaan – After having attracting the ire of government officials, lawmakers and analysts, Golkar Party's proposal to allocate Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) to each legislator to

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – A Golkar Party senior politician says that the current leadership under Aburizal Bakrie has sunk the party into deeper pit of bad public image.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The big and medium-sized parties are pushing for a 5 percent parliamentary threshold at all levels of government and a full district system in the 2014 leg

Anita Rachman – House of Representative's Speaker Marzuki Alie, a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, has labeled a Golkar proposal that legislators be give

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – More than 80 Ahmadiyah members who have taken refuge in the Wisma Transito shelter, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), did not cast votes in the Mataram mayoral

Irvan Tisnabudi – The newly appointed finance minister held out an olive branch to lawmakers on Monday, telling them he needed their "trust" and cooperation if he was to succeed in refo

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Golkar Party proposal to allocate Rp 15 billion (US$1.64 million) from 2011 state funds for each legislator as "aspiration funds" is likely to grow into ano

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The Golkar Party's "pork barrel" spending proposal will likely prove far less beneficial to underdeveloped regions that produce few legislators, data shows.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Camelia Pasandaran – Following a series of bruising defeats in local elections, Golkar leaders have exhorted local party officials to work harder to win t

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction at the House of Representatives said Sunday that the party would support the "aspiration fund" for legislators to develop t