Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri might want to glance in the direction of her husband if she's looking for someone to blame for her party's below-par performance in this week's parliamentary elections.
Taufik Kiemas, a legislator from the couple's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), called former chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono childish early last month after the latter grumbled over being sidelined from key decisions.
The row was prompted by Yudhoyono's appearance in a public television ad promoting peaceful elections.
Taufik and the PDI-P saw the ad as a veiled attempt by the minister, whose presidential ambitions were no secret, to get a head start on publicity in the race for the top job.
The comments turned the row into a national issue and prompted sympathy from many Indonesians who thought the retired army general had been victimised. He promptly rose in opinion polls to edge out Megawati as the top choice for president in the direct election on July 5.
Yudhoyono left the cabinet on March 11, the first day of campaigning for the April 5 parliamentary vote, and toured the vast country for the fledgling Democrat Party, which few expected to get more than one percent.
But four days after the poll, with the number of votes counted totalling 39 percent of the 147 million electorate by late afternoon, the Democrat Party had nearly eight percent and was running fifth among the 24 parties competing - a respectable showing for a new party.
PDI-P was leading at 21 percent, but down sharply from 34 percent in the last elections in 1999 and putting Megawati's political future in doubt.
Analysts say the row influenced a shift of allegiance.
"What we see is that many who voted for the Democrat Party are voters who supported PDI-P in 1999. They see that by voting for Democrat they're actually paving the way for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to step closer to the presidency," said Rustam Ibrahim, head of the Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Yudhoyono's "fate is similar to people like us. Being forgotten and forsaken by Bu Mega," said furniture company worker Widodo, 38, using Megawati's nickname. A PDI-P voter in 1999, he went for the Democrat Party this time.
Democrat Party officials say Megawati's husband handed them a miracle.
"After Taufik Kiemas said that, we have been flooded by people wanting to become members. More than 1,000 people come to the party office every day and many others are calling every second to become a member," said a party registrar whose desk was covered by piles of forms from new applicants.
On any given day this week, new members crowd the foyer of the party's office on a bustling East Jakarta street, trying to find out whether their party identity cards are out yet while others browse through party paraphernalia, most covered by Yudhoyono's face.
The party manifesto says Indonesia should give no room to communism, an Islamic state, separatist movements or terrorism.
The party ideology is "religious nationalism" defined as "a nationalistic outlook galvanised by religious morality" embracing all faiths in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
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