Islamic parties bounce back in Muslim-majority Indonesia's parliamentary elections
Electoral analysts were surprised by Islamist parties' unexpectedly strong showing in parliamentary polls on Wednesday but attribute this to dissatisfaction with corrupt incumbents
Indonesia’s Muslim parties enjoyed a surprise jump in support at legislative elections this week, but analysts put it more down to anger with a corrupt ruling party than the growing popularity of political Islam.
Surveys had predicted that the five Islamic parties running at the polls in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country would see their support slip further after years of decline.
While there have been increasing signs of Islam in Indonesian public life since the 1998 downfall of dictator Suharto – such as more women wearing the headscarf – Islamic-based political parties had seen their support wane.
But this picture unexpectedly changed at Wednesday’s polls. Combined support for the parties rose to 32 per cent from 26 per cent in 2009, according to an unofficial tally by the CSIS think-tank.
Some of the parties, such as the National Awakening Party (PKB) with more than nine per cent, may now play important roles in forming a coalition after July presidential polls.
