The House of Representatives recently passed the Regional Elections Law where governors, mayors and regents are elected by legislative councils instead of directly by the people, one year after Indonesian voters directly elected their president for the first time. The law, which had previously been in use during former president Soeharto’s New Order era, has been deemed a setback in Indonesian democracy by curtailing people’s voting rights and preventing potential regional leaders becoming national leaders, such as current president-elect Joko Widodo. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been called a traitor and citizens took to social media and the street to protest the new law.
