The trend of nominating retired military and police officers or "purnawirawan" as legislative candidates remains a persistent feature of Indonesian politics. This study examines the dynamic relationship between political parties and purnawirawan. We argue that pragmatism drives political parties' decision to appoint purnawirawan as national legislative candidates. The objectives of this research are twofold. First, it investigates the correlation between these purnawirawan's career background, including their personal networks, and the electoral strategies of political parties in national legislative elections. Second, our study identifies the conditions and contextual factors that motivate political parties to accommodate purnawirawan within their legislative campaign. A closer examination on the case of Perindo (Partai Persatuan Indonesia, Indonesian Unity Party) reveals the over promise and under delivery of purnawirawan in electoral politics as the high number of purnawirawan candidates failed to help the party surpass the 4% parliamentary threshold.

Adhi Priamarizki and Muhamad Haripin, “The Guardian of the Votes? Purnawirawan Politics in Indonesia’s 2024 National Legislative Elections,” Asian Politics and Policy (2026), https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.70082