The post-independence political landscape has been dominated by Presidents Soekarno (1949-66) and Soeharto (1967-98). The Soekarno years were marked by political instability, economic decline and the dismantling of Indonesia's first parliamentary democracy. Soekarno's leadership ended in an armed coup in September 1965 in which Major General Soeharto rose to power and formally assumed the Presidency in March 1967.