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major shift in power and prolonged disputes among councilors '€” some new and some old '€” marked 2014'€™s political landscape in the capital.

During the 2014 general election, political parties were divided into two blocs: those who supported Prabowo Subianto under the Red-and-White Coalition and those who supported Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and his Great Indonesia Coalition.

Political parties in the Red-and-White Coalition comprise the Gerindra Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Golkar Party. Meanwhile, the Great Indonesia Coalition comprise the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Hanura Party, the NasDem Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The rivalry between the two coalitions was so fierce that it affected the dynamics of politics at the Jakarta City Council even months after the general election was over.

The 2014-2019 City Council consists of 106 members from 10 political parties: the PDI-P, Gerindra, the PKS, the PPP, the Democratic Party, Hanura, the Golkar Party, the PKB, NasDem and PAN.

The PDI-P secured 28 seats, followed by Gerindra with 15 seats, the PKS with 11, the Democratic Party 10, the PPP 10, Hanura 10, Golkar nine, and the PKB six. NasDem, running in its first election, won five seats while PAN took two.

Following its inauguration, the City Council had to form five commissions and establish supporting boards, such as the legislative body, a budget committee, a consultative body and an ethics council.

However, like legislators in the House of Representatives, the councilors were engaged in a heated debate on nominating commission chairpersons, as each faction insisted on nominating its own members. There was a deadlock over the matter for more than three months. The situation was different from the 2009-2014 period when councilors only spent one month discussing commission chairpersons.

The absence of the commissions had an impact on 2015 budget deliberations, as the administration could not discuss the budget proposal with the councilors.

Unwilling to accept the blame, the parties blamed the delay and deadlock on each other.

'€œThere was a deadlock because the factions were fighting over commission chairmanships. None was willing to compromise,'€ City Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi of the PDI-P said.

Meanwhile, council deputy speaker Triwisaksana of the PKS blamed the deadlock on the council speaker. '€œThis is a test for the council speaker. He should be able to communicate with the councilors so that we can find a solution to the problem,'€ Triwisaksana had said.

Unnecessary debates and ignorance on the part of the councilors in their first months in office may not be a good sign for Jakarta residents, who hoped that the city administration would work fast to reduce the capital'€™s perennial problems.

City officials, including Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama, regional secretary Saefullah as well as Jakarta Financial Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono, criticized the city councilors for their lack of cooperation.

After the prolonged deadlock, in early December, the factions seemed to have put their differences aside and agreed on nominating commission chairpersons: Commission A overseeing governance from the PPP faction; Commission B overseeing economy from the PKS; Commission C overseeing finance from the Democrats-PAN; Commission D overseeing development from Gerindra; and Commission E overseeing people'€™s welfare from the PDI-P.