Megawati’s PDI-P scores hat-trick in Indonesia election, but the party faces opposition dilemma under a Prabowo government

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s current ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), scored a historic hat-trick in the country’s latest legislative election, winning the most votes for the third time in a row.

But the party faces a dilemma in deciding how it wants to deal with Mr Prabowo Subianto, who won a decisive victory in the presidential election, observers say.

The country’s General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Wednesday night (Mar 20) that PDI-P won last month’s legislative election with 16.72 per cent of the vote. 

The country’s oldest party, Golkar, came in second with 15.29 per cent, followed by the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), which received 13.22 per cent. 

Shortly after the election on Feb 14, PDI-P’s secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto indicated the party might be an opposition party when exit poll results showed it was leading on the legislative front, but had lost in the presidential election.

Since the KPU announced official results, however, PDI-P has not given a firm statement on its position. The silence speaks volumes about its dilemma, some analysts say. 

With PDI-P’s presidential candidate Mr Ganjar Pranowo losing to Mr Prabowo, the chairman of Gerindra, PDI-P is now in a delicate situation, said political analyst Nicky Fahrizal from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank.

“From my perspective, PDI-P is not yet unanimous about whether it should be a political force outside the government,” he said. “This is not yet clear, and they are still very doubtful.”

While some intellectuals and academics in Indonesia hope the PDI-P will become the opposition to serve as a check-and-balance to Mr Prabowo’s government, Mr Nicky said PDI-P may struggle to find parties to join such an opposition coalition in parliament.

“PDI-P is stuck for now. Their ministers are still in the Cabinet and, within the elites, there is no unanimity regarding whether to be in opposition or not,” he said.

There are currently five PDI-P ministers in the Cabinet, which consists of 34 ministers.

Outgoing President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, is a member of PDI-P. But during the recent elections, he appeared to endorse Mr Prabowo, whose vice-presidential pick was Jokowi’s son, current Solo mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Since the announcement of Mr Prabowo and Mr Gibran’s candidacy last October, a rift has occurred between PDI-P and Jokowi.