With the ending of restrictions on political activity following the fall of Suharto, a total of 48 parties contested the 462 seats up for election in the People's Representative Council.

[6] The system used was based on closed party-list proportional representation at the provincial level (in province-wide districts).

The Golkar float was attacked and damaged[12] The traffic circle in front of Hotel Indonesia was a popular spot for rallies.

[18][19][20][21] At one minute past midnight on 5 June, all party flags, banners and posters began to be removed as the campaign officially ended.

[23][24] There was independent monitoring down to the level of polling stations by Indonesians as well as by 100 observers and support staff from 23 counties led by Jimmy Carter.

[25] One way the public could access the latest results was by sending a short message service text to a specific number.

[26] On 9 June, Carter's team reported that although there had been "shortcomings" and allegations of financial abuses, they did not appear to have had a significant impact on the polling day activities.

Eventually, later that same day President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie in a live TV broadcast declared the results were valid.

The process of allocating seats in the People's Representative Council took several months with the PPI announcing the results on 1 September.