Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 29 May 1997. There were three simultaneous elections in one because voters were electing members of two levels of regional government (provincial and regency levels) as well as the national-level People's Representative Council. This was to be the last election of President Suharto's New Order regime, which collapsed a year later. Like the preceding New Order elections, it was won outright by the Golkar organization. Background The political and social environment during the 1997 legislative elections was substantially different than in previous elections. There was a widespread belief among the public that this election would be Suharto's last term as president. However, there was no clear successor to him or his New Order regime. This led to many officials in the government demonstrating their loyalty to Suharto and to gain his favor by delivering a victory for Golkar. This led to what Professor of Politics and Government Cornelis Lay called "a shattering process of structural cheating." Another factor in the election was the greater global focus on human rights in Indonesia. In 1993, pressure against the Suharto government resulted in formation of the National Human Rights Commission. The commission (which had an unusual degree of independence from the Suharto government) offered a channel for humans rights groups and organizations to focus international attention to human rights abuses in the country. Participants Indonesian law at the time only allowed three organisations to participate in elections - the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Golkar (functional group), an organisation which started off as a confederation of NGOs, and was officially not a party. Election campaign The 27-day campaign ran from April 27 to May 23, with a quiet period of five days before polling day. Media coverage The mass media tended to favour "a particular election participant", for example Suara Karya newspaper only reported on Golkar campaign activities, and did not mention the PDI or PPP campaigns at all. On the other hand, the daily Media Indonesia was rather more balanced, but overall, Golkar campaign speakers received far more coverage. In the later stages of the campaign, media coverage was dominated by reports of campaign violence. Suara Karya in particular reported three times as many violent incidents involving the PPP than any other paper. Campaign issues Not a single election participant started the campaign by announcing or focusing on its main