Vaudine England, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's victory in yesterday's vice-presidential race illustrated both the risks of upsetting her supporters any further and the continuing strength of an Islamic alliance inside the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
The result was seen to be the only way to avert further street violence across the country. Yet the fact that it took almost all day to make the deal shows not only her own weakness in alliance-building but the potential weaknesses of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Gus Dur, as Mr Wahid is called, had wanted to avert the vote entirely and to give the job to his old friend Ms Megawati through the Indonesian way of consensus. He had offered the job to General Wiranto on Monday, to Akbar Tanjung on Tuesday, and to Ms Megawati on Wednesday.
"He's already failed his first political test," said one Western diplomat. "Because he couldn't avoid the vote". Mr Wahid managed, however, to bring together enough of the factions that had voted against Ms Megawati on Wednesday to support his candidate when it counted.
MPR chairman Amien Rais' political skills were also on the line. He was with Mr Wahid in wanting a Mega win, but he too could not persuade National Development Party leader Hamzah Haz to withdraw from the race.
Political moves throughout the day did persuade both Mr Tanjung, the Golkar chairman, and armed forces chief General Wiranto to withdraw "in the national interest".
General Wiranto was still keen on the job until at least midday, but a letter from regional military commanders arrived urging him to pull out, presumably because they feared for their ability to contain unrest if a military man supplanted the beloved Ms Megawati.
Both Mr Tanjung and General Wiranto must have instructed their factions to vote for Ms Megawati, again in the interests of national unity.
"If the TNI [Indonesian armed forces] wanted to create chaos on the streets to lead into a putsch, they could just support Hamzah Haz," said an analyst. "But with Mega and Gus Dur they've got two leaders who they know will not hurt them".
The closeness of the vote shows that the Muslim alliance in parliament remains very strong and that each subsequent vote in the assembly could be played out along nominally religious lines.
Analysts, presuming violence has been avoided, expect the currency to strengthen. What no one is yet concerned about is the fact that this new government will be led by two people with few administrative skills between them.
Mr Wahid is in poor health, while Ms Megawati's parliamentary career suggests she has a lot to learn about realpolitik.
"The position of Megawati as vice-president is important as a symbol," said one of her party members. "This now shows the value of winning in a general election. It shows you can still get something from that."