Politics of Indonesia
Indonesia is a constitutional democracy. After the fall of Suharto's prolonged authoritarian New Order regime in 1998 various constitutional amendments were made in order to reduce effective power of the executive branch, thereby making a new dictatorship almost impossible. Indonesia is now characterized by popular sovereignty manifested in parliamentary and presidential elections every five years. Starting from the fall of Suharto's New Order, which marked the beginning of the Reformation period, every election in Indonesia is regarded to be free and fair (although corruption and money-politics through which power or political positions can be bought, are still persistent).