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Yudhoyono's party won 20.85 percent of the vote becoming the new kingmaker. (Reuters) |
JAKARTA — 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), told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, May 10.
The final results of last month’s legislative elections showed Yudhoyono's ruling DA winning 20.85 percent of the vote, up from 7.5 percent in the 2004 polls.
The result leaves the party as the new kingmaker, with 26 percent 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 percent of the vote.
Ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secured the third place with 14.03 percent.
The Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a partner in the ruling coalition, came fourth with 7.9 percent.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP), two other Islamic parties, won 6.01 and 5.32 percent respectively.
Only parties that achieve the electoral threshold of 2.5 percent of the cast votes or get at least 4.3 million voters are awarded seats in the parliament.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with a population of 220 million, around 85 percent of them follows Islam.
The country is described as the world's third-largest democracy, after India and the US.
Seeking Partners
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 fifty one percent 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.
"With full supports of those parties, he would get direct winning in next presidential contest," notes Burhanuddin.
But to form a government, he explains, the president will have to seek an alliance with either Golkar or the PDI-P.
DA officials affirm that they are already in back-door negotiations with Megawati's PDI-P.
"We are persuading PDI-P to agree for coalition with us," said Ahmad Mubaraq, DA's deputy chairman.
Under the deal, the PDI-P would be nominating the vice presidential candidate running with Yudhoyono in the July vote.
Registration of candidates for the presidential race runs from May 10-16.
Yudhoyono was supposed to announce his vice president pick Sunday but delayed the announcement until May 15 to give room for coalition talks.
"We have three VP candidates on our pocket but only the president can choose," said Mubaraq.
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