President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose Democratic Party (DA) has won the biggest vote share in the general elections, still needs to reach out to several parties to be able to build a solid coalition. “Such big number is not enough for Yudhoyono to form a strong government,” Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), reportedly said on May 10. The final results of last month’s legislative elections showed Yudhoyono’s ruling DA winning 20.85 per cent of the vote, up from 7.5 per cent in the 2004 polls. The result leaves the party as the new kingmaker, with 26 per cent or 148 of the parliament’s 560 seats.
Golkar party, the grand old party of Indonesian politics and former partner in the ruling coalition, came second with 14.45 per cent of the vote. Ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secured the third place with 14.03 per cent. The Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a partner in the ruling coalition, came fourth with 7.9 per cent. The National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP), two other Islamic parties, won 6.01 and 5.32 per cent respectively. Only parties that achieve the electoral threshold of 2.5 per cent of the cast votes or get at least 4.3 million voters are awarded seats in the parliament.
Although Yudhoyono’s party has almost tripled its vote share and emerged as the new kingmaker, it still needs to reach out to other parties to form the new government. “He should get at least 51 per cent of political power via forming a coalition,” explains Burhanuddin. Before the final results, the DA had agreed to enter in coalition with four Islamic parties, led by PKS, making it easy for Yudhoyono to win a second five-year term in the July presidential vote.