Introduction: New forms of voter mobilization in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Southeast Asia in the twenty-first century is no longer what it used to be, at least not at its ASEAN core. By the 1990s, competitive elections had (re)emerged as the primary mechanism for the assumption of state office in the Philippines and Thailand. By the turn of the century, Indonesia had experienced two orderly transfers of presidential power, as well as the country’s freest and fairest elections since 1955. Meanwhile, opposition parties made strong showings in federal elections in Malaysia, seizing control over state assemblies and increasing their share of seats in the national legislature.