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Jokowi optimistic about leading RI despite minimum support from lawmakers
President-elect Joko âJokowiâ Widodo, who will take office on Oct
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P
resident-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who will take office on Oct. 20, said he was optimistic that he could still run the country effectively despite the small number of political parties supporting him in the House of Representatives.
'I believe that my next administration will be stable,' he said recently at the office of his transition team in Central Jakarta, as quoted by kompas.com.
He said that when he was leading Surakarta, Central Jakarta, as a mayor from July 2005 to Oct. 2012, he was not supported by a large number of political parties in the city council either. However, he could still run the city well for two mandates.
Moreover, since he had led Jakarta as its 15th governor from Oct. 12, neither was he supported by a large number of political parties at the City Council. However, he, along with Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, were able to run the capital city well, said Jokowi, who had tendered his resignation letter to councilors this month.
Last week, the Jokowi-led coalition suffered a bitter defeat against losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's Red-and-White Coalition during a plenary session on the regional election (Pilkada) bill. His coalition, which supported direct elections for regional heads, could only muster 135 votes, far fewer than the 226 votes collected by Prabowo's coalition.
As of today, Jokowi was only supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Hanura Party, the Nasdem Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) at the House Representatives. Meanwhile, the Red-and-White Coalition, Jokowi's opponent whose lawmakers will dominate the House, consisted of the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Gerindra Party. (alz)
