T

he chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Megawati Soekarnoputri, rallied the party’s rank-and-file behind the presidential bid of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during a celebration for the party’s 46th anniversary in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

In a rousing speech in front of Jokowi, his running mate Ma’ruf Amin and hundreds of the party’s national and regional executives, Megawati called on party members to work hard to deliver results in the 2019 general election, have the PDI-P win the most seats in the House of Representatives and secure Jokowi’s reelection.

“Very confident that Pak Jokowi will be reelected,” Megawati said in her speech. The party’s matriarch also pledged that her side would adhere to the Constitution in campaigning for Jokowi.

“As leader of the party, I maintain that the PDI-P will win again through constitutional means,” Megawati said.

In 2014, the PDI-P fared best in the legislative election with 23.68 million votes or 18.9 percent of the national vote, followed by the Golkar Party with more than 18 million votes and Gerindra with more than 14 million votes.

The PDI-P’s ticket in the 2014 presidential election of Jokowi and running mate Jusuf Kalla won the race after securing more than 53 percent of the vote. Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Rajasa garnered 46.8 percent of the vote.

In his speech delivered after Megawati’s, Jokowi complimented her stewardship of the country’s largest political party.

Jokowi said her deeds made a lasting impression on party members and supporters.

“Her courage, sincerity and consistency have been exemplary and all PDI-P members should strive to emulate those [qualities],” Jokowi said.

Aware of the fact that their relationship has come under close scrutiny, with even the smallest gestures parsed by the media, Jokowi and Megawati displayed a show of unity in the lead-up to the party’s anniversary celebration.

Jokowi played the role of chauffeur for Megawati and ferried her on a golf cart on the way to the main venue for the celebration.

Tagging along for the ride was Kalla and Jokowi’s running mate Ma’ruf.

The PDI-P officially named Jokowi its presidential candidate for the 2019 election in February last year, less than six months before the General Elections Commission opened registration for the election.

Jokowi and Ma’ruf are backed by nine political parties, including the PDI-P, the Golkar Party, the National Awakening Party, NasDem and the recently established Indonesian Solidarity Party.

Megawati was seen as a key player in assembling the coalition of political parties that now back Jokowi’s candidacy.

She was reported to have blocked an effort by the Democratic Party to join the Jokowi camp over personal problems with former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Ties between Yudhoyono and the PDI-P chairwoman have been strained since he decided to run against then-president Megawati in the 2004 presidential election. He was serving in her Cabinet as the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister at the time.

On Thursday, Megawati also revealed that she had a hand in picking Ma’ruf as Jokowi’s running mate.

Megawati said she decided on Ma’ruf after learning that Kalla was not eligible under the Constitution to run for a third term.

“To be honest, initially I asked Pak JK [Jusuf Kalla] to run again, but he is barred from running again. That gave me a headache. But after consulting many sides, I asked Pak Ma’ruf if he could run alongside Pak Jokowi,” she said.