Since 1999, Indonesia has had a multi-party system. In the six legislative elections since the fall of the New Order regime, no political party has won an overall majority of seats, resulting in coalition governments.

Pursuant to the Indonesian political parties act, political parties' ideologies "must not be against Pancasila" and "is an explanation of Pancasila".

Overview

The Indonesian political party system is regulated by Act No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties. The law defines a political party as "a national organisation founded by like-minded Indonesian citizens with common goals to fulfill common interests and to defend the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia as based on Pancasila and the 1945 State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia".

Political parties must register themselves with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to be recognised by the authority. The law dictates that political parties' registration criteria shall include a notarial act recognising the party establishment and party constitution; a document describing party symbols; address of party headquarters and proof of distribution of party local offices in provinces, and cities and regencies; and a proof of party bank account. The law also dictates minimum membership of new political parties on 50 persons, with the percentage of woman members and allocation of woman members to party offices are set on a minimum of 30%.

Electoral eligibility The party must undergo another registration process in order to participate in national elections; the registration shall be submitted to the General Elections Commission (KPU). Several criteria are required by the KPU, namely related to the party's presence in Indonesia's regions:

Political parties who have had their registration declined by the electoral commission due to failure to satisfy administrative criteria or other reasons are able to appeal their rejection to the General Election Supervisory Agency (BAWASLU). Specifically for regional political parties in Aceh, the first requirement is waived, while the second and third requirements are set at two-thirds of the regencies/cities and districts.

Party principles

Indonesian political parties should recognise the superiority of Pancasila and the national constitution, but Indonesian law tolerates the practice of other ideologies not in violation of the Pancasila and the constitution. A 1966 Provisional People's Consultative Assembly resolution still in force today, however, explicitly prohibits establishment of a communist party, and political parties are banned from adopting "Communism/Marxism-Leninism" (sic; explicitly defined in the resolution's corresponding explanatory memorandum to include "the struggle fundaments and tactics taught by ... Stalin, Mao Tse Tung et cetera") as the party ideology.

In essence, Indonesian political parties differs little on party policy and ideology. The only major difference between Indonesian parties is their position as to how major a role Islam, by far the nation's majority religion, should play in public affairs. This tendency resulting in several Indonesian political parties to brand itself as the part of nationalist-religious broad coalition in order to attract potential voters from both Muslim or Islamist and secular nationalist groups. Thus, for instance, (1) the Democratic Party (Demokrat), Party of Functional Groups (Golkar) and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) are identified as the secular, (2) the National Awakening Party (PKB) and National Mandate Party (PAN) as the Muslim, but not Islamist, and (3) the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and United Development Party (PPP) as the Islamist.

The language of the left–right political spectrum is seldom used in Indonesia, in contrast with other countries. This tendency arose as the result of the New Order regime under Suharto which was anathema to left-wing policies after the 1965–66 Indonesian mass killings of members and supporters of the Communist Party of Indonesia. The New Order regime further stigmatised left-wing ideals as those espoused only by communists, discouraging Indonesian political parties from identifying themselves as left-wing movements lest they lose potential voters and be accused as communist. This tendency has survived even after the 1998 Reforms, partly due to the new regime's insistence on keeping anti-communist legislation in force. In addition, due to how widely presidents shared power, Indonesian party cartelization differs significantly from canonical electoral alliances in Europe.

Funding Political parties which won seats in the national or regional parliaments are eligible for funding from the central or local governments, based on number of votes received in the relevant legislative elections. The funding amount is set for Rp 1,000 per vote received at the national level, Rp 1,200 at the provincial level, and Rp 1,500 at the city/regency level. Local government can opt to allocate more funding to political parties - Jakarta, for example, paid in 2021 Rp 5,000 per vote received. After the 2019 election, this amounted to Rp 126 billion (USD 8 million) from the central government on an annual basis. This payout only made up a small proportion of party revenues – the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, for example, raised just 1.5 percent of its reported revenue from government funding. Donations and fees from elected officials made up a larger proportion of income.

Parties represented in legislatures Parties represented in national and regional legislatures

LogoNameLeaderYearStatus in the Provincial seatsCity/regencyDPRD seatsEst.FirstelectionSeatsStatus PDI-PIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Megawati Sukarnoputri19991999 Check and balance GolkarParty of Functional Groups Bahlil Lahadalia19641971 Government GerindraGreat Indonesia Movement Party Prabowo Subianto20082009 Government NasDemNasDem Party Surya Paloh20112014 Confidence and supply PKBNational Awakening Party Muhaimin Iskandar19981999 Government PKSProsperous Justice Party Al Muzzammil Yusuf19991999 Confidence and supply PANNational Mandate Party Zulkifli Hasan19981999 Government DemokratDemocratic PartyAgus Harimurti Yudhoyono20012004 Government

Parties represented only in regional legislatures These parties participated in the 2024 elections but failed to attain a single seat in the national House of Representatives after winning less than the parliamentary threshold of 4% of the popular vote. Notable failures were of the United Development Party, which lost all its seats in the 2024 election after having been represented in DPR since 1977, and Hanura, which won DPR seats in 2009 and 2014 but lost them in 2019 and failed to recover their seats in 2024.

Despite electoral failure in the DPR, these parties successfully gained seat in regional parliaments (DPRD). Although, these political parties, along with other extra-parliamentary parties, are sometimes referred as .

Aceh's special autonomy statutes allowed formation of local political parties to compete only in the Aceh House of Representatives. Although the party number is serialised from the national list, Aceh local parties only appeared in ballot paper circulating in Aceh province.

LogoNameLeaderYearProvincial seatsCity/regencyDPRD seatsEst.Firstelection PPPUnited Development PartyMuhamad Mardiono19731977 HanuraPeople's Conscience PartyOesman Sapta Odang20062009 PSIIndonesian Solidarity PartyKaesang Pangarep20142019 PerindoIndonesian Unity PartyAngela Tanoesoedibjo20152019 PBBCrescent Star PartyGugum Ridho Putra19981999PKNNusantara Awakening PartyAnas Urbaningrum20222024 GarudaChange Indonesia Guardian PartyAhmad Ridha Sabana20152019 GeloraIndonesian People's Wave PartyAnis Matta20192024 UmmatUmmah PartyRidho Rahmadi20212024BuruhLabour PartySaid Iqbal20212024Parties represented only in Aceh PAAceh PartyMuzakir Manaf20072009PAS AcehAceh Just and Prosperous PartyTu Bulqaini Tanjongan20232024 PNANanggroe Aceh PartyIrwandi Yusuf20112014 PDAAceh Abode PartyMuhibbussabri A. Wahab20072009 SIRAIndependent Solidity of the Acehnese PartyMuslim Syamsuddin20072009

Extra-parliamentary parties These political parties have no representation in either national or regional parliaments.

The term "partai gurem" (minor party, literally "tropical fowl mite party" referring to the small size) is commonly used by Indonesian media to refer to these political parties. The term initially referred to political parties that won a very small number of parliamentary seat, but after the 2004 election, to political parties that have no chance of surpassing the parliamentary threshold (currently 4%) necessary to gain representation on the House of Representatives. These political parties are often perceived to be lacking in organisational structure, their leaders seemingly interested solely in attracting media attention.

These parties often have their attempts at registering for elections turned down by the KPU due to the parties' failure to satisfy registration criteria set by the commission, which includes completeness of party documents, a permanent physical party headquarters, minimum membership and minimum percentage of woman members. Parties that had their registration rejected often resort to appealing their rejection to the Bawaslu, with varied success.

Logo Name Leader Year Est. Contestedelections PKP Justice and Unity Party Yussuf Solichien 1999 2019 Berkarya Party of Functional Banyan Muchdi Purwopranjono 2016 2019PKDI Indonesian Dharma Awakening Party Ngurah Arya 2007New Hindu party expects to run in 2009 elections Jakarta Post – 24 December 2007 2009New Hindu party expects to run in 2009 elections Jakarta Post – 24 December 2007 Republik Republican Party Suharno Prawiro 1998 1999 Parsindo M Jusuf Rizal 2013 PBI Nurdin Purnomo 1998 1999Reformasi Syamsahril Kamal 2000 PPB Eggi Sudjana 2001 Pakar Ari Sigit 2012 Rakyat Arvindo Noviar 2014 PDRI Ambarwati Santoso 2015 Pandai Farhat Abbas 2020 Masyumi Masyumi Party Ahmad Yani 2020 PRIMA Just and Prosperous People's Party Agus Jabo Priyono 2021 PPB Widyanto Kurniawan 2021 Perkasa Eko Santjojo 2021 PKR People's Sovereignty Party Tuntas Subagyo 2021 PMI Indonesian Students Party Eko Pratama 2021 IBU Zulki Zulkifli Noor 2021 PDSP Prosperous Peace Party of Renewal Hendrik RE Assa 2021 PDKB Apri Hananto Sukandar 2021 Pelita Ari Chandra Kurniawan 2022 Republiku Ramses David Simandjuntak PRS D Yusad Siregar Kongres Zakariani Santoso PP Party of Change Robi Nurhadi 2024 Parties that are not registered in the KPU RI Political Party Registration SystemSRI Union of Independent People Damianus Taufan 2011 PHI Green Party of Indonesia Collective leadership 2012 Parties founded after the latest electionPRI Indonesian People's Party Muhammad Nazaruddin 2025 PGB Echo of the Nation Party Ahmad Rofiq 2026 PGR People's Movement Party Sahrin Hamid 2026

Political party coalitions Outside of the Suharto period, no political parties controlled a majority of the Indonesian parliament, necessitating the formation of coalitions. Coalitions may also be required to nominate candidates to executive office elections (i.e. President, Governors, Regents, Mayors and their deputies), and political parties often form coalitions for regional elections with parties which are on opposing coalitions at the national level.