This paper analyses difficulties of identifying and tracing party and party system change in Southeast Asia. It will highlight problems of identification with a focus on four different countries that are either electoral democracies or hybrid regimes with competitive elections. In Thailand, the high degree of factionalism puts into question the usually preferred indicators and measurements of party and party system change. In East Timor, many major parties are splinters from the former guerilla organisation Fretilin. In the Philippines, parties are clientelist networks without meaningful platforms and organizational structures. After elections, members of parliament switch in great numbers towards the party of the newly-elected president. Finally, in Indonesia, some parties have re-emerged after more than forty years of authoritarianism and party bans. They differ substantially from their predecessors, but still represent some of the same cleavages.
