This week marks the seventh year since Jokowi took the nation’s helm, and with no prospect of getting reelected without amending the presidential term limits, he has three more years left to build whatever legacy he wants to leave behind when he steps down in 2024.

In his second inaugural address on Oct. 20, 2019, Jokowi vowed to continue developing Indonesia so it would be more prosperous, advanced and on a par with top-flight countries. He envisions the country ranking among the world’s top five economies by its independence centennial in 2045, from 16th at present.

All opinion polls show that Jokowi still commands popular support, even after issuing painful policies to tackle COVID-19. In the latest September poll from Indikator Politik Indonesia, his approval rating fell to 58 percent from 63 percent in February, but this means he still enjoys the support of more than half the nation.

He is even seeing a groundswell of grassroots support for him to rule beyond 2024, with calls for the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to make this possible when it discusses amending the Constitution.

How likely this will be, however, depends on another relationship Jokowi has been nurturing, that with the political parties that have partial control of the Assembly.

Seven of the nine political parties in the House of Representatives comprise his coalition government and together control 82 percent of House seats. This means the government could pass any legislation with little resistance.

While the parties of his coalition may have given Jokowi their unflinching support these past two years, sooner or later, they will drift apart as 2024 nears and they get busy preparing to win the elections. Some are already grooming their own presidential candidates. And without any personal interests at stake in 2024, Jokowi will be busy building his legacy.

Signs of discord between the two have already appeared over the 2024 election dates. The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of which Jokowi is a member, is pushing for a February date while Jokowi is pushing for May. This may seem a mundane matter, but it is revealing of the internal strain in his coalition government.

Will this turn into Jokowi a “lame duck president”, or will the political parties continue to support him for the remaining three years of his term?

Much depends on how he manages them, but one thing we have learned from seven years of his presidency is that no one should underestimate him.

The former furniture entrepreneur has become adept at running the government even though he does not lead any political party, unlike his six predecessors. In a country where a president must constantly nurture support from political parties to govern effectively, Jokowi has become something of a maestro in the art of coalition management.

Winning two presidential elections on a coalition ticket was his first test. Once elected, he faced his next test: governing effectively. He achieved this by expanding the coalition government to include parties that had opposed him, in both 2014 and 2019.

In 2019, he even recruited his twice-defeated election rival Prabowo Subianto to his Cabinet. The government now has all three of the largest parties in the House, allowing Jokowi to bulldoze controversial draft laws with little opposition. One of these was the omnibus law on job creation to replace 72 pieces of legislation, which was given a speedy reading by the House.

The law is intended to make Indonesia as economically competitive as any country in the world to bring in the investments it needs to create jobs and build the nation’s prosperity, as Jokowi envisioned in his 2019 inaugural speech. If the new law works as intended, it will become part of his legacy.

Another possible legacy is Jokowi’s plan to relocate the nation’s capital from sinking Jakarta. Every president before him had contemplated establishing a capital city that was separate from Jakarta’s commercial interests, and then quickly dropped the idea because of prohibitive costs. Jokowi thinks he can pull it off. The bill on relocating the capital is in the hands of the political parties in the House.

Jokowi does not depend solely on political parties to sustain power and support. His informal coalition includes powerful interest groups, whose support he ensures through give-and-take. These include business lobbies and conservative Muslims as represented by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, whom he personally chose to be his running mate in 2019. To complete the circle, he also commands the loyalty of the National Police and the Indonesian Military.

Jokowi sprang a surprise in August when he brought in the National Mandate Party (PAN) as the seventh member of his coalition government. The big parties questioned his decision, saying that even without PAN, the six existing members already commanded 75 percent of the House.

But beyond strengthening the government, bringing PAN into the fold gives Jokowi a little more leverage in negotiating with the political parties constantly making demands on him to reward their support, particularly the big ones.

Jokowi needs a few more cards up his sleeve to maintain his relationships with the people and his coalition for the next three years so he has the support he needs to finish his job. Who knows? He might still have what it takes.

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The writer is a senior editor at The Jakarta Post.