The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has come out triumphant in the 2019 legislative election, with early counts from numerous polls indicating that the party of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has secured more than 20 percent of the votes.

A quick count released by Litbang Kompas, the research arm of Kompas daily, revealed that as of 9:20 p.m., the party was in the lead with 20.6 percent. The figure was derived from data collected at 86.7 percent of the polling stations surveyed.

Another tally released by Indo Barometer and the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) shows that the party has 19.9 percent and 20 percent of the vote, respectively, based on data from 71.8 and 91.6 percent of all polling stations surveyed.

Though the numbers show a slight improvement from the party’s results in the 2014 election, when it secured 19 percent of votes in the House of Representatives, analysts said they still fell short of predictions.

“As predicted, the party benefitted from a coattail effect from Jokowi,” said Sirojudin Abbas from the Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting (SRMC). “But due to constant challenges from other parties in the past few months, support for the party eroded.”

He added that with the PDI-P and other parties backing Jokowi’s reelection bid winning majority seats at the House, the path is clear for the President to make his mark on his second term in office.

“This is the chance for him to create a legacy in his last term. He has made some progressive policies, like the tax amnesty. He now has the challenge of making an even greater impact — and it would now be easier for him to gain approval from the House,” Sirojudin said.

Election surveys have also revealed that the Gerindra Party, which backs presidential challenger Prabowo Subianto, is standing toe-to-toe with Golkar with around 12 percent of votes. They are in second and third position, respectively.

In 2014, Golkar secured 14.8 percent to become the legislative runner-up, while Gerindra landed in third place with 11.8 percent.

According to Litbang Kompas’ early tally, Gerindra secured 12.8 percent of votes this year and Golkar 11.7 percent.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) executive director Philips Vermonte said the results demonstrated Golkar’s resilience, especially with several of its top brass currently behind bars for corruption, including former chairman Setya Novanto and former acting chairman Idrus Marham.

Golkar is also a supporter of Jokowi in his reelection bid.

“If Golkar manages to edge out Gerindra to be in second place, it shows that Gerindra failed to gain from its connection to Prabowo,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Other Jokowi coalition parties, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and NasDem Party, also had a strong performance in the legislative race, which Philips said might give them a greater bargaining position in the new Jokowi administration.

“These parties might have higher bargaining power, such as for cabinet positions and so forth, which might make it difficult for Jokowi,” he said. “So, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Litbang Kompas’ quick count shows the PKB with 9.4 percent of the vote, putting it ahead of other Islam-based parties, including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a Prabowo supporter, which is estimated to have secured 8.6 percent of votes.

Gerindra executive Andre Rosiade told the Post that the party knew it would do well as part of the coattail effect of Prabowo’s candidacy. But he conceded that he had expected a better result.

“We’ve done our best to win — Prabowo and Gerindra. We hope to gain 5 [percentage points] instead of just one. [But] we should wait for the real results by the KPU,” Andre said, referring to the General Elections Commission.

Upon hearing the early count results, PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri called for calm among the party’s members and supporters.

“I have issued an order [for all campaign team members and volunteers] not to announce any [early] results because they are not final — unless they came from the KPU. We should wait for the KPU,” Megawati said.

PDI-P executive Charles Honoris attributed the party’s strong presence to Jokowi, who he described as the party’s finest member.

“We are grateful that everything we’ve done was received well by the public,” he said.

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