Anas Urbaningrum announcing his candidacy for the post of chairman
of the Democratic Party in Jakarta on Thursday.
Two months of intense, often-bitter campaigning ended on Sunday as the ruling Democratic Party finally chose as its new leader a young but skilled politician seen as being in the mold of the party’s patron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Anas Urbaningrum, the 40-year-old head of the party faction in the House of Representatives, was elected chairman for the next five years after winning 280 of the 531 votes in a two-stage election at the party’s national congress in Bandung.
House Speaker Marzuki Alie, 54, won 248 votes. The third candidate, Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, 47, who had been considered the front-runner, suffered a shock defeat earlier in the day, when he garnered
just 82 votes in the first round of voting.
“The national congress decided and determined that we had conducted a fair and honest vote ,” voting session chairman Evert Erenst Mangindaan announced after the election, one largely seen to have been carried out without intervention from Yudhoyono.
Speaking after the vote, Anas called on Marzuki and Andi to work with him to make the party better. “No hard feelings. Pak Andi and Pak Marzuki are the best cadres of our party. The three of us will still work together to improve this party,” he said.
Achmad Mubarok, head of Anas’s campaign team, said they would support the president’s son, Edhie Baskoro, to be named party secretary general. “That’s firm, Ibas will be supported as secretary general,” he said.
Saan Mustopha, another member of Anas’s camp, credited the victory to a last-minute campaign to get regional members to support a candidate who can maintain a polite image. “And they find that Anas is similar to Pak SBY, a humble and polite politician.”
Benny K Harman, also from the winning team, said the victory was due to a solid strategy that involved reaching out to party members in the regions.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said the victor had promised his loyalty to the party while intensively approaching branches across the archipelago. “Anas said the Democratic Party would be his first and last party. This kind of statement is important for the Democrats, showing his commitment to the party.”
Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analysts from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said that Anas was the right choice given his political experience.
Anas, the former chairman of the Islamic Students Association (HMI), is considered one of only a handful of skilled lobbyists in the party and has close relations with other top political figures.
“And the Democrats want a young leader,” Burhanuddin said, adding that the other big parties are still stuck with older leaders. “I think they got a jump-start in regeneration, faster than other big parties, and that is good.”
Although also young, Andi did not have the grassroots connections to the party that Anas and Marzuki have.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), lauded the Democrats’ choice, saying the party’s relations with other factions in the House could improve under Anas.
