President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is believed to have tightened his hold over the Golkar Party and consolidated his own political position following the reelection of party chairman Airlangga Hartarto during the party’s national congress in Jakarta on Thursday night.

Airlangga, the current coordinating economic minister, was reelected chairman of the nation’s second-largest party by acclamation after his strongest contender, Bambang Soesatyo, bowed out of the race at the eleventh hour. 

Jokowi wanted Airlangga to keep hold of the Golkar leadership, analysts say, 

The senior minister is seen as more loyal to the President, who remains a political outsider despite being a card-carrying member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the nation’s largest party, with which he has had disagreements over several key political issues.

Soon after his reelection, Airlangga announced that he would create new positions within the party’s leadership structure to accommodate several senior party members, including Jusuf Kalla, Jokowi’s former vice president, and Luhut Pandjaitan, a senior Golkar politician and key figure at the State Palace.  

“We will offer them positions that they desire,” Airlangga said. 

Luhut, who went against his party line by supporting Jokowi’s presidential bid in 2014, played a crucial role in paving the way for Airlangga to clinch Golkar’s leadership for the second time. The 72-year-old politico, who serves as coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister, helped convince Bambang to drop his bid in order to maintain “party solidity” during a meeting at Luhut’s office. Bambang announced his withdrawal from the race at the office on Tuesday.

The party has yet to decide on the positions for Kalla and Luhut, but it agreed on Thursday to have five party boards: an ethics board, honorary board, expert board, advisory board and supervisory board. Five senior members will fill the positions, namely Kalla, Luhut, Aburizal Bakrie, Agung Laksono and Akbar Tandjung.

Of the five figures, Aburizal has been appointed as its supervisory board chairman. Airlangga has also been advised to appoint Agung and Akbar as expert board chairman and honorary chairman, respectively.

Golkar Party executive Ace Hasan Syadzily denied on Thursday that Jokowi had requested Airlangga to give Luhut and Kalla the high-ranking positions, saying that Airlangga genuinely believed that the party should accommodate senior members to directly support its strategy for the next five years.

Another party executive Ahmad Doli Kurnia, however, did not rule out the possibility of Jokowi personally asking Airlangga to include Luhut and Kalla in Golkar’s structure. “I don’t know about that [the request] specifically, but it might be true that there was talk between Jokowi and Airlangga about it,” he said.

As the second-largest faction at the House of Representatives, Golkar is a powerful political force that could play a decisive role in the legislative process. With many crucial legislative proposals to back up his development plans, Jokowi could not afford to lose Golkar’s support.

Jokowi cannot rely solely on the PDI-P in seeking House support for his programs, given that the President and his own party have not always been on the same page on several key political issues, political analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Arya Fernandes said

“Jokowi needs to find another partner to ensure that he has a strong enough bargaining position when dealing with the PDI-P,” Arya said.

Jokowi, for instance, is not a keen supporter of the PDI-P’s initiative to amend the 1945 Constitution to reinstate the now-defunct State Policy Guidelines (GBHN), which analysts say will reduce presidential powers.  

“It would be better if there was no [constitutional] amendment. Let us concentrate on external pressures that are difficult to handle,” Jokowi said.

With Airlangga controlling Golkar’s faction at the House, it is unlikely that Golkar will support the PDI-P’s agenda. Unlike Bambang, who supported the amendment proposal after being endorsed by the PDI-P to become the People’s Consultative Assembly speaker, Airlangga has had reservations about it.

“Jokowi is aware that he is not the main policymaker in the PDI-P. This position makes it difficult for him to advance his interests. By tightening his grip on Golkar, his position when dealing with [PDI-P chairwoman] Megawati will be more equal,” he said.

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