At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Indonesia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO *
• Head of Government: President Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO
• Assembly: Indonesia has a bicameral People's Consultative Assembly consisting of the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah) with 128 seats and the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) with 560 seats.

* A candidate pair must be nominated by a party or coalition with at least 20 percent of seats in the DPR or that won at least 25 percent of votes in the last DPR election.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote to serve a 5-year term.
• In the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah) 128 members are elected by single non-transferable vote to serve 5-year terms*. In the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) 560 members are elected by open list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.**

* There are 4 seats allocated to each province, which is treated as a multi-member district. The DPD is advisory only.

** Parties must clear a threshold of 2.5 percent nationwide. Each party list must include at least 30 percent female candidates. Under a 2008 constitutional court ruling, voters may select a party, or they may select an individual. The ordering of party lists is fully determined by candidate preference votes.

Main Candidates in the of the Presidential race:

• Yusuf KALLA
  • Party: Partai Golongan Karya
• Megawati SUKARNOPUTRI
  • Party: Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle/Partai Demokrasi Indonesia - Perjuangan
• Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO
  • Party: Democratic Party/Partai Demokrat

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 240,271,522 (July 2009 est.)
• Registered Voters: 155,048,803 (July 2009 )