REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KARAWANG -- The Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP) wishes to win both parliamentary and presidential elections next year. It was a bid to create a record as the first party to win elections twice in a row in the current reform era, its secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto said.

Hasto stated in a meeting with local party board members and cadres in the district of Bekasi, West Java, on Saturday that the general chairperson, Megawati Soekarnoputri, had issued an order for the party victory in the parliamentary election as well as the victory of its cadre President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in the presidential election.

"After the general election in 1999, she noted that there has never been a political party that wins elections in a row. PDIP has an opportunity to break a record after winning the 2014 elections," he remarked.

Hasto remarked that the executive order was clear and so cadres had no reason to be doubtful if this time would be the momentum for the party to make a history. He explained that winning both the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2019 would be very important so that development efforts in the future could be made more massively and effectively.

Referring to the experience after the victory in the 2014 election, he revealed that Jokowi had to take around a year to conduct political consolidation to be able to run his government effectively because he failed to win the majority members of the parliament.

Now that the number of parties supporting Jokowi and his running mate KH Ma'ruf Amin is bigger, Hasto said there is strong possibility that majority of the members of the parliament would be won and "so the government of Jokowi-Ma'ruf in the future would not only be strong in terms of people's legitimacy but also because the majority members of the parliament would support it."

Hasto believed that with a strong government, effectiveness of development efforts as well as speed would be better than in the past four years of President Jokowi's government so far.

Jokowi, as incumbent, would again meet Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election scheduled on April 17 next year. He would bid with Ma'ruf as his running mate, while Prabowo, who is a retired army general, has taken young businessman Sandiaga Uni as his running mate.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika