Secularists advance in Indonesian elections

The secular party of Indonesia’s president tripled its share of the vote in parliamentary elections and support for religious parties nose-dived – a sign of how even devout believers in the world’s most populous Muslim nation are delinking faith and politics.

Many say they’ve had enough of unpopular laws and edicts pushed through by hard-liners, regulating women’s dress and banning everything from smoking to yoga.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic party won the lion’s share of the vote in last month’s parliamentary poll – 21%, according to final results released over the weekend – buoyed by his popularity and reform agenda.

That puts him in an even stronger position to win a second, five-year term when Indonesian’s pick their new president in July.

He faces a changing political landscape in this secular nation of 235 million, 90% of whom are Muslim.

Though people are becoming more religious at home, that has not translated at the ballot box.

Support for the main Islamist parties in the April 9 polls declined from 39% five years ago to just 24%, largely because modern, urban voters view them as intolerant.

The Democrats now have 148 seats in the 560-member parliament.

Because the remainder are shared between eight other secular and Islamic parties a scramble is underway to form a coalition to push through policies.

The deal-making – and Mr Yudhoyono’s fallout with his current, main coalition partner, Golkar – could see various religious parties’ political clout strengthened in the next government.

Mr Yudhoyono is credited by many with bringing stability following decades of dictatorship and then years of political uncertainty as democracy took root after former military leader General Suharto was ousted amid massive street protests in 1998.

He won popularity by launching a security crackdown that netted hundreds of militants, including several involved in a string of deadly suicide bombings. His administration has overseen the arrest of several high profile politicians and businessmen for corruption.

The former army general has indicated that, despite their drop in popularity, he will bring Islamic groups into his coalition – as he did in 2004 when he became the country’s first democratically elected leader.

But this time, because the Democrats hold a larger number of seats in parliament, he will not need Golkar – the secular party of former dictator Suharto and the second-largest vote getter in last month’s polls.