The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) signaled on Thursday it would be taking up the role of an opposition party to the future government, as presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto appeared poised to succeed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

One day after Prabowo claimed victory in Wednesday’s presidential election, PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto hinted at the readiness of the party to go into opposition after being the largest party in the ruling coalition for the past 10 years.

“During the PDI-P’s tenure outside the government in 2004 and 2009, we were highly appreciated for our role in improving the quality of democracy,” Hasto said, stressing that the party’s contributions when serving outside the governing coalition were “patriotic” in defense of the people’s interests.

The PDI-P positioned itself as an opposition party in the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2014 after the party’s chairwoman and Indonesia’s fifth president Megawati Soekarnoputri was defeated by Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, her former chief security minister, in the 2004 and 2009 presidential elections.

Megawati’s party came in second and third in the 2004 and 2009 legislative elections, respectively.

While the party refrained from using the term “opposition”, as Hasto argued that such terminology was not recognized by the country’s political system, he asserted that PDI-P would continue “supporting pro-people policies” and “stand against harmful ones, such as rice imports that hurt our farmers”, should it decide not to join the governing coalition.

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