Hanura, a member of the ruling coalition supporting incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s reelection, fell short of the legislative threshold necessary to acquire seats in the House, as shown by the final vote count of the 2019 legislative elections by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The KPU announced in the early hours of Tuesday that Hanura secured only 1.54 percent of the national vote, far below the minimum electoral threshold of 4 percent set by the 2017 Elections Law.

The party even gained fewer votes than the three newcomers that participated in the April election, the Perindo Party, the Berkarya Party and the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), which respectively secured 2.67 percent, 2.09 percent and 1.89 percent of the votes.

Hanura’s loss, which was predicted by quick-count results after voting day last month, has led to finger-pointing between Hanura chairman Oesman Sapta Odang and the party’s patron, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, revealing yet another internal rift in the party.

Oesman, a businessman-turned-politician, recently blamed Wiranto for the party’s failure, saying “Don’t ask me why Hanura has lost, ask Wiranto instead,” in his speech before Jokowi and some state officials during an iftar dinner at his official residence.

In response, Wiranto said that if he was to be blamed, the only mistake that he had committed was appointing Oesman to be Hanura chairman, replacing himself after he became a minister in Jokowi’s Cabinet in 2016.

“I am the founder of the party, which within 10 years since its establishment had successfully entered [the House] two times,” Wiranto told reporters. “I am the saddest person [with Hanura’s loss].”

Wiranto, a former Indonesian Military commander, formed Hanura with several retired Army generals after he failed to win the 2004 presidential election. The party secured House seats during both 2009 and 2014 legislative elections.

Hanura, currently the smallest party in the House with 16 seats, experienced prolonged internal conflict that created a rift between Oesman and a splinter faction led by Sarifuddin Sudding, who was the party’s secretary-general at the time.

Sudding and six other lawmakers from the party left Hanura prior to the general election to join other parties, mostly the NasDem Party, in what analysts described as a fallout of the party’s internal conflict.

Political analysts have cited the rift as one of the reasons behind Hanura’s failure in the election since the party’s leaders had been more focused on settling the internal conflict instead of focusing on securing more support from the public.

“The rift has caused the party’s chairman to be busy with political maneuvers at the elite level, while in fact support from the voters was key to securing votes for Hanura,” Indikator Politik Indonesia researcher Kuskridho Ambardi said.

He noted that the party’s legislative candidates and their campaign teams put little effort into improving Hanura’s visibility and attracting voters during the legislative campaign period in regions across the country.

Separately, Daryatmo, a Hanura politician from the splinter faction, has stepped up to defend Wiranto and blamed Oesman for not fulfilling his role and responsibility as the party chairman, but instead allowing the party to lose solidarity.

“We want Oesman to be responsible for the Hanura Party’s downturn in the 2019 elections and be chivalrous about resigning from Hanura’s leadership,” he said.

Wiranto, however, called for the politicians to stop blaming each other and to engage in introspection so that they could evaluate their strategies for the future.

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