There were ten participants; nine political parties and the "functional group" Golkar, which came first with more than 60 percent of the vote, resulting in an absolute majority in the People's Representative Council.

In March 1966, President Sukarno signed a document giving Army commander Suharto authority to restore order.

Suharto used this document to ban the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), which was officially blamed for the coup attempt the previous September.

A General Election Board was established in mid-1969 headed by Minister of Home Affairs Amir Machmud.

Under the rules, which the newspaper Harian Kami called "The Twelve Commandments", election participants were forbidden to question the state Pancasila ideology, the 1945 Constitution and the government's policies or their implementation.

Their campaign head was I. J. Kasimo, who stated that the main goal for the Catholic Party was to protect human rights in Indonesia.

In a speech on national television, PNI leader Usep Ranawidjaja stated that Pancasila and constitution were the basic things that the government need to run the country and carry out the people's will.

[13] Nahdlatul Ulama stated on national television on 29 April 1971 that one of its main goals for the election was to enforce and uphold Sharia and the belief in God according to Pancasila.

The political statement stated that Golkar would implement a system of democracy based on Pancasila, form a new and clean government, hold further elections, and secure the national revolution.

The big tent principle of Golkar would later help it to be supported by large groups, mainly by the army and government employees.

[23] Golkar and the parties also made use of television and radio for campaign speeches, but they were only allowed to read pre-approved prepared texts.

Kopkamtib head General Sumitro later said that without the intervention from ABRI, Golkar would have lost the election to the Muslim parties.

[28] Although the Golkar victory was expected, given its financial advantages and superior access to transport and communication, as well as the strong support from the army, the collapse of the PNI vote surprised many.

Golkar was also awarded the remaining 100 seats according to the provisions of the 1969 Election Law, giving it 336, almost three quarters of the total.

[33][34] The Golkar landslide meant that a proportional representation system had produced a government party with a majority in the legislature.

In 1973, the MPR comprising the membership of the new DPR together with the appointed regional, functional and social representatives, re-elected Suharto to the presidency.

[35][36] A year before the election, President Suharto had said that he wanted the political parties to join in two groups, one religious and one nationalist.

Forbidden to organize down to the village level and later obliged to accept Pancasila as their sole ideology, they were the only parties allowed to contest elections until the end of the Suharto regime.