Jakarta. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) asserted on Monday its right to retain the speakership in the House of Representatives after securing the most votes in the Feb. 14 election.

PDI-P Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto warned the closest rival, the Golkar Party, to refrain from attempting to seize the speakership, citing the 2018 law on legislature governance, which grants the winning party the right to appoint the House speaker.

Hasto referred to the House speaker selection in 2014, won by then Golkar politician Setya Novanto following a collective move among several parties to form a majority coalition against the election winner PDI-P. Setya later became the Golkar chairman in 2016 but resigned from both the House speaker and Golkar chairman positions in December 2017 after being named a corruption suspect.

"Don’t try to provoke the PDI-P, which showed great patience during the 2014 incident. The speaker from the 2014 election ended up facing trouble and prison time. Bad karma follows complete disregard for ethics and values,” Hasto said.

His remarks came as a response to earlier comments by Golkar executive Ace Hasan Syadzily, who said the party still “has a chance to win the speakership”.

The current House speaker is Puan Maharani, the daughter of PDI-P Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Puan is set to retain her post for another five years after the PDI-P won 16.72 percent of the vote, just 1.4 percentage points ahead of second-placed Golkar.

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