Five More Years for Megawati as PDI-P Reelects Party Matriarch

Jakarta Globe, Apr 09, 2015

Members of Joko Widodo's cabinet stand beneath a portrait of former president
 Megawati Sukarnoputri as they attend their inauguration of the Working Cabinet
 at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Oct. 27, 2014. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle national congress re-elected Megawati Soekarnoputri to be the party’s chairwoman on Thursday.

“We declaring by acclamation that Megawati Soekarnoputri is PDI-P chairwoman for 2015-2020,” PDI-P senior politician, Frans Lebu Raya, told the congress in Sanur, Bali.

The announcement was welcomed with cheers and applause by hundreds of PDI-P members attending the congress.

“One more time, thank you for your trust,” Megawati told delegates. “If I am to be here until 2020, please pray for my health so I can carry out my duty as a chairwoman.”

Former president Megawati founded the party in 1999 and has chaired it ever since.

PDI-P cadres have repeatedly said that the Bali congress was only held to reaffirm Megawati’s position as the chairwoman and was never intended to be a political contest to elect a new leader.