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iti Hediati Hariyadi, better known as Titiek Soeharto, the second daughter of former president Soeharto, declared her withdrawal from the Golkar Party on Monday, making her the last of the Soeharto clan to leave the party.

She has decided to leave Golkar for the Berkarya Party, which was founded in 2016 by Titiek’s younger brother, Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, and which will run in the 2019 legislative elections.

Tommy himself is a former Golkar member who left in 2016 after a failed bid for the party chairmanship.

Golkar had been former president Soeharto’s political vehicle from 1971 until the end of his New Order regime in 1998, Titiek had been a member since 2012 and won a House of Representatives seat with the party in 2014.

Golkar remains widely associated with the New Order, with a recent national survey from Jakarta-based pollster Charta Politika finding that 22.8 percent of Golkar-supporting respondents voted for the party because it “represented the spirit of the New Order and Soeharto”.

Golkar deputy secretary-general Muhammad Sarmuji acknowledged that Golkar was still widely seen as a New Order party, but said the connection had become less and less pronounced with the passage of time, therefore, the party was not particularly worried about losing Titiek.

“We also have not campaigned on Pak Harto’s name but on our own programs and policies,” he said.

“People might say that Titiek’s departure is worrying [for Golkar] because she is Soeharto’s daughter,” he said. “But if you look at her campaign in 2014, she continually emphasized her connection to Soeharto but Golkar only won a single seat in her district, and she didn’t win by an amazing margin either.

“So I don’t think that the connection to Soeharto had that big of an impact,” he said.

Maksimus Ramses Lalongkoe, the executive director of the Institute of Indonesian Political Analysis, doubted that Titiek’s departure would have much of an effect on Golkar.

“Golkar has many competent members, including many New Order politicians,” he said. “One member leaving won’t make much of a difference.”

He added that Golkar’s widespread recognition and established party infrastructure throughout the country made it hard for newcomer parties such as Berkarya to compete.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro, on the other hand, said that Titiek’s departure would definitely have an impact on Golkar’s electability, as has been the case when other parties splintered from Golkar.

“Golkar has many ‘children’: the Democratic Party, the Gerindra Party, the Hanura Party, the NasDem Party, and now the Berkarya Party. And every time, Golkar has lost votes,” she said. “I think it is inevitable that Berkarya will be able to take advantage of part of Golkar’s infrastructure.”

After dominating legislative elections for decades under Soeharto with 60 to 75 percent of the vote, Golkar has been in a downward trajectory since the start of the Reform Era, stagnating at around 14 percent in the last two elections, and Siti predicted that Titiek’s departure would prolong this trend.

Berkarya politician Badaruddin Andi Picunang said that Titiek’s arrival in the party would help strengthen the public perception of Berkarya as Soeharto’s natural successor.

“Titiek has many followers and we are sure that the many admirers of Soeharto will also look to us,” he said.