Aside from voting for the next president, Indonesia also voted for legislative assembly members from different parties yesterday. Based on the quick count results, the ruling coalition, which backs the incumbent president Joko Widodo, is expected to win most of the seats in the parliament.
The country’s largest party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is currently leading in the parliamentary elections. PDI-P, which is led by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, is one of the 60 parties competing for the 575 seats in the House of Representatives. The party has managed to obtain 20.87 per cent of the votes, based on the quick counts conducted by different pollsters. In 2014, PDI-P also won the election with 18.95 per cent of votes. Political analysts have attributed the party’s performance to the coat-tail effect of Joko Widodo’s candidacy in the presidential race.
PDI-P’s coalition parties, such as Golkar and the National Awakening Party (PKB), also managed to secure 11.94 per cent and 9.62 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, Gerindra, the opposition party which is led by Jokowi’s presidential rival Prabowo Subianto, is expected to garner 13 per cent of all votes. Other opposition parties such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), which are allies of Gerindra, have secured 8.5 per cent and 6.45 per cent respectively.
Political expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Noory Okthariza, explained that quick count results are very likely to match the official results, which will be released by the General Election Committee or KPU, on 22nd May. “As the ruling coalition is the majority in the Parliament, there should be no significant hurdles for the government to implement programmes and policies,” Noory added.
In his second term, Noory expects Jokowi to be more decisive and confident, as he is likely to have more support from the parliament. “As he is in his final term, he will also have nothing to lose. He has a major back-up in the parliament,” Noory added.
Source: The Straits Times
Image: KPU