Regional Unity Party

The Regional Unity Party (Indonesian: Partai Persatuan Daerah) was a political party in Indonesia. The party was founded as a result of the reforms to the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's supreme law-making body which used to consist of the elected People's Representative Council plus members appointed from the regions and functional groups. When these unelected members were removed in 1999 after the first democratic elections following the fall of Suharto, several regional representatives' led by Oesman Sapta, tried to reestablish the Regional Representatives Faction. The members of this faction took the view that the elected Regional Representatives Council, which replaced the unelected members of the People's Consultative Assembly, would not be effective as it was too small. They therefore decided to establish a political party to represent the interests of the regions. In the 2004 legislative elections, the party won 0.6% of the popular vote and no seats in the People's Representative Council. It contested the 2009 elections, but won only 0.53 percent of the vote, less than the 2.5 percent electoral threshold, and once again was awarded no seats in the People's Representative Council. The party's program included support for free education and healthcare the eradication of corruption, particularly in Papua, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Following its poor result in the 2009 vote, the party joined nine other smaller parties to form the National Unity Party (Indonesian: Partai Persatuan Nasional).