Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Made Arya Kencana – An election watchdog has slammed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his domination over the Democratic Party's organizational structure in which he holds several key positions.

Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA) director Ray Rangkuti criticized the country's leader for seizing many of the top positions in his political party, saying that the move disrespects the principles of democracy and that it was the first time in post-reform Indonesia that a single person has managed all the strategic positions in a political party.

Yudhoyono is not only the party's chairman, he is also the chairman of the party's High Council, chairman of the board of advisers and chairman of the party's supervisory commission. "Even the party's secretary general is his own son," Ray said on Sunday.

Ray explained that giving all the power to one individual was clearly subverting the principle of democracy, because balanced sharing of power was vital to a healthy government and nation.

Ray also criticized Democratic Party members who he said have chosen to remain silent as the nation's government moves away from democracy in favor of a form of political nepotism.

Ray challenged the young Democrats to speak out and protest the president's dominance over the party.

"The country's future lies in the hands of these young people. If they adapt to unfair democratic practices, they will end up getting used to undemocratic actions and conditions," Ray cautioned.

Margarito Kamis, an expert on state administration, said the fact that Yudhoyono was elected by acclamation at the party's extraordinary congress highlights he is a one-man show in the party and that everything depends on him.

"The Democratic [Party] is the same as SBY, and SBY is the Democratic [Party]. This is marked with the election of SBY by acclamation," Margarito told Inilah.com on Sunday.

With regard to the conditions set by Yudhoyono before he accepted the position as the party's chairman, Margarito said that there was no guarantee that additional positions for the deputy chairman and acting chairman would improve the party's performance.

Siti Zuhro, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that the president wanted his party to resemble the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has adopted a dynastic system.

"The origins of PDI-P has been clear, since the Sukarno era. Although it's a dynasty, not all Sukarno family held the leadership [positions]," Siti said on Sunday.

Siti added that PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri didn't automatically appoint her daughter Puan Maharani as a party executive. "Puan was a cadre for a long time and she assumed the House faction chairmanship only recently," Siti explained.

On the other hand, he said, the Democratic Party is a political party that was just starting to learn how to form a dynasty. "We can compare which one is an old dynasty and which one is new. Ibas [Yudhoyono's son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono] is still new in the party and he has already assumed the secretary general position."

Siti noted that kinship in the party does not always result in the public's confidence. "It's true that loyalty is important. But most important is [to gain] trust and it's dangerous to depend on a leadership [style] like this."

Siti also expressed her doubts about Yudhoyono's leadership. "I don't believe that the Democratic Party's electability can improve in a year, unless a radical move is made," the political observer said.

Analyst Hanta Yudha said a show of solidarity in the party would have a positive impact in the short-term, as evidenced by the Democrats' extraordinary congress that was able to contain potential party turbulence.

However, she said such solidarity would hurt the party in the long run, associating it permanently with Yudhoyono's persona.

"The medium-term test will emerge before presidential and vice presidential candidates are decided," Hanta said.

He added that Yudhoyono would face a tough challenge on the party's electability if it failed to reach the 15 percent target in the 2014 legislative elections.

"With SBY becoming the chairman, there's potential that it would break his concentration to run the government and in turn disrupt the government's performance," he said.