Lessons from Elections 2004
*Decline in support for major parties as voters turned to new forces that presented themselves as clean, non-political, pragmatic.
*Parties unable to sway voters toward their respective candidates in the presidential race.  People made their own choices.
*Campaign periods too short.  One debate among candidates going into round one, one separate “discussion” in round two.  Round two campaign period only three days!
*Three elections in one year too much.  Election fatigue by September 20th, also long period of uncertainty.
*Personality over substance.
* PKS and Demokrat. Declines for all the big parties. Voters consistently jaded with major parties.  Seen as corrupt, power-hungry, just machinating, not paying attention to the concerns of the common people.
*Formal alliance between Golkar and PKB in the first round to support Golkar candidate Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid.  But Wiranto’s 22% of the vote just a little more than Golkar’s 21% in the parliamentary elections.  Where did the votes go?  Answer some Golkar split to SBY, much PKB split to SBY and  Mega-Hasyim
*Parliamentary election campaign period one month.  Presidential election round one just one month.  Second round pres elec three days!

*None of the top candidates offered a concrete governing program (Amien Rais did).  Winner SBY personality: not charisma in the sense of captivating.  Strong, steady, impassive, turtle rather than the hare, non-political, problem-solver, mistreated.
Voters said they wanted substance but didn’t vote that way.