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Opposition gets more seats in Jakarta Council
The recapitulation results of the 2019 elections by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) on Saturday has shown that incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo won the presidential race in the capital with a slim majority of 200,000 votes over his rival Prabowo Subianto
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The recapitulation results of the 2019 elections by the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) on Saturday has shown that incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo won the presidential race in the capital with a slim majority of 200,000 votes over his rival Prabowo Subianto.
However, the opposition parties saw a dramatic rise in support at the local level.
For the first time in the city’s political history, the top-three parties in the legislative body will remain the same for two consecutive terms with 24 percent of the vote secured by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which backed Jokowi, followed by 18 and 15 percent by the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), respectively.
The latter two supported Prabowo, as well as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan in the 2017 gubernatorial election and secured an additional four and five seats, respectively.
Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro said the Gerindra-PKS coalition had impressed Jakarta voters sufficiently for the parties to retain power for another five-year term.
Besides Gerindra and the PKS, the National Mandate Party (PAN) — also in Prabowo’s coalition — got a boost with seven additional seats.
PAN supported Anies after initially backing Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono as a candidate in the first round of the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election.
Sirojudin Abbas program director of Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) said Gerindra, PKS and PAN benefited from Anies’ victory and the political infrastructure they had created, which was mainly supported by religious political sentiment.
“PAN intersects with Islamic groups in so many ways, with its senior politician Amien Rais becoming a leading figure energizing the city’s conservative Muslims,” he said.
PAN also benefited from the tainted image of the United Development Party (PPP) after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) charged its chairman Muhammad Rohamurmuziy with bribery, and the move by figures, such as former deputy council speaker Abraham “Lulung” Lunggana, to PAN after being fired from the PPP.
“It means that political parties are still relatively abstract in Jakarta. The voters still look to specific figures,” Sirojudin said.
This could also be seen in the PDI-P vote, as the party had a strong political infrastructure with Jokowi’s election. Therefore, former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s election defeat and imprisonment for blasphemy in 2017 did not lead to a decrease in support for the PDI-P in the capital.
Ahok, however, did assist one of the party’s legislative candidates Ima Mahdiah, a former Ahok staffer and who was politically endorsed by him, got the highest vote among all candidates in her electoral district in West Jakarta.
Other parties, such as the PPP and Hanura meanwhile, experienced a significant decline in council seats, with Hanura possibly not getting any seats.
Siti said this year’s elections had been unfavorable for the PPP. Aside from the party’s political dynamics related to its stance on identity politics, it also had internal leadership problems.
Hanura, meanwhile, appeared to lose much of its legitimacy. Sirojudin said many Hanura members no longer supported the party in the 2019 legislative elections as they had moved to other parties such as Nasdem, PAN and the PDI-P.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party despite not being subject to significant negative sentiment in the last five years, has failed to energize Jakarta voters since Agus’ defeat in the first round of the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election.
“Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is no longer a magnet for the city’s voters. After Agus’ defeat, the party had almost no grassroots movement,” Sirojudin said.
Siti said the older political parties’ corruption cases and internal dissensions had allowed newer political parties to win a significant number of council seats.
The newcomer Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), which raised anti-corruption and anti-intolerance issues, looks set to secure eight seats.
“Voters in Indonesia are very politically moody with no party fanaticism among them. They will simply leave corrupt political parties,” Siti said.
Sirojudin said the PSI had offered a fresh platform to the city’s voters, especially progressive Muslims and progressive nationalists who are becoming bored with the PDI-P, Golkar and Democrats’ nationalist style.
“The city’s voters have found new niches. It’s great. If they could keep their branding up to 2024 elections, they would be able to get seats in the House of Representatives,” he said.
Despite the city’s political scene changing, Council Speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi from the PDI-P — who has secured his position for one more term — expressed the hope that it would not impede the council’s performance.
“There would be a lot of new faces in the City Council. Hopefully, we can cooperate very well. Our stance is to work for the people’s interest because development in Jakarta is crucial,” he said.
