Prabowo’s headache as Gerindra trails in the legislative race

Despite a victorious run for Indonesia’s top post, Prabowo Subianto may have headache as his party, Gerindra is in the third position in the legislative race.

the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has about 17 per cent of the votes with about 85 per cent of the sample results counted.

Golkar and Prabowo’s Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) are in second and third place with 15 per cent and 13 per cent of the votes respectively, according to Indikator Politik Indonesia.

This would mean Prabowo may not be able to rule effectively without securing a majority in parliament.

“If Mr Prabowo becomes the next president, but PDI-P controls the parliament, the government won’t be able to rule effectively,” said Mr Wasisto Raharjo, a political analyst with the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

To avert this scenario, the Prabowo-led Advanced Indonesia Coalition – which counts Gerindra and Golkar among its members – will need to expand its coalition to secure a parliamentary majority to avoid potential gridlock with a PDIP-led parliament, analysts said, CNA reported.

In the legislative polls, about 9,900 candidates vied for the 580 seats in parliament, which is also known as the House of Representatives.

There are some 205 million registered voters across the archipelago – the General Elections Commission (KPU) has said that official results are expected to be released by March 20 at the latest.

Gerindra, Golkar, the National Mandate Party (PAN) as well as the Democratic Party who are coalition parties supporting Prabowo only have 42 percent of the vote samples.

Wasisto said Prabowo’s coalition needs to act quickly before PDI-P makes the move.