PD Still Holds Trump Card: Observer

Jakarta (Antara) - The ruling Democratic Party (PD), which was ranked fourth in Wednesday's legislative elections, still had a trump card, communications expert of the Paramadina University Hendri Satrio said. "The fact that the voter turnout of the PD was almost overshadowed by PKB's in the fourth place was a political risk that the PD had to face. Yet, it should be remembered that the PD still had a trump card in the country's political constellation," Hendri said here on Thursday. He said the drop in the vote gains of PD was probably caused by the fact that its influential leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will complete his term in office as the country's president. He added that if the results of the quick counts were accurate, then the fate of Indonesia in the next five years will be decided by four political parties, namely the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the Golkar Party, the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party and the PD. These four political parties were placed in the first, second, third and fourth position, respectively, as the winners of the legislative election by several quick counts of independent survey institutions. "The four parties were the electoral contestants that won at least ten percent of the votes," Hendri said. He remarked that both the PDIP and the Golkar as the winners of the legislative elections should have laid down their strategies for the presidential elections on July 9, 2014. "As one of the strong rivals to PDIP, Gerindra in a coalition will name its own presidential candidate to lead the coalition," Hendri stated. The PD will also name its own candidate but the only possible position for its candidate was the vice presidential position. "The vice presidential position was the most realistic for the PD. It will possibly nominate one of these candidates, namely Dahlan Iskan, Anies Baswedan, Gita Wiryawan and Promono Ehie Wibowo," he said. (*)