JAKARTA: Indonesia’s ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), scored a hat trick after winning three consecutive legislative elections.
However, according to observers, PDIP is facing a dilemma regarding how to respond to its relationship with Prabowo Subianto, who won a landslide victory in the presidential election.
Previously, last Wednesday evening (20 March), the General Election Commission (KPU) announced that PDIP had won the legislative election with 16.72 percent of the vote.
Golkar, as the oldest party in Indonesia, is in second place with 15.29 percent, followed by the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) which received 13.22 percent of the vote.
After the exit poll results for the February 14 election showed PDIP’s victory in the legislative election, but the defeat of the presidential candidate they supported, Ganjar Pranowo, PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto has indicated that they might become the opposition.
Since the KPU’s official announcement, PDIP has not provided any statement regarding their next position. Observers say that PDIP’s silence shows that they are struggling with a dilemma.
Nicky Fahrizal from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) research institute said Ganjar’s defeat to Prabowo put PDIP in a difficult situation.
“In my opinion, PDIP has not yet agreed on whether they will become a political force outside the government,” he said. “This is not yet clear, and they are still very doubtful.”
Many intellectual and academic figures in Indonesia hope that PDIP will become an opposition to act as a check-and-balance for Prabowo’s government. But according to Nicky, PDIP will have difficulty getting the party to join its opposition coalition in parliament.
“For now, PDIP is stuck. Their ministers are still in the cabinet, and at the elite level, there is still no agreement about whether they will be in the opposition or not,” he said.
Of the 34 ministers in President Joko Widodo’s current government cabinet, five of them come from PDIP.
President Jokowi himself is a member of PDIP. However, in this election, he appears to be supporting Prabowo who is being paired with Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as vice presidential candidate.
Jokowi’s relationship with PDIP no longer seems harmonious since the announcement of Prabowo and Gibran’s candidacy in October last year.
