According to quick counts and vote tally tabulation, the PDI-P is set to be the party with the largest number seats at the House and thus be entitled to the speakership post as per the 2018 Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law.

“A House speaker has to have a certain set of skills and competencies and it only makes sense to nominate Puan as the strongest candidate,” PDI-P executive and lawmaker Hendrawan Supratikno said on Tuesday.

Puan ran in the East Java electoral district and is said to have garnered the most votes compared with other legislative candidates from the PDI-P.

“Thank God, according to the MD3 Law, the party that wins the [legislative] election will get the speaker’s post. Maybe [I will be a candidate] but it’s not final yet,” Puan told reporters.

Article 427 of the MD3 Law stipulates that the House speakership consists of a House speaker and four deputy speakers, which will be assigned to representatives of the political parties that gained the most votes. The article also stipulates that the House speaker be a lawmaker from the political party that won the most seats.

The current composition of the House leadership does not reflect this mechanism, as revisions initiated by parties in the opposition coalition, including the Golkar Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN), which supported Prabowo Subianto and then running mate Hatta Rajasa in the 2014 presidential election, stripped the majority party in the House of the right to appoint the speaker, allowing the House to choose the speaker through a vote. Golkar and PAN jumped ship to the ruling coalition in 2015.

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