He was the speaker of the Central Java Regional People's Representative Council [id] between 1999 and 2004, and was a gubernatorial candidate for the province in 2003.
Afterwards, he enrolled at the faculty of medicine at Diponegoro University, but he dropped out in 1967 as his parents could no longer fund his education.
In the election, the PDI-P councillors' vote split, but with the support of the National Awakening Party, Mardiyanto defeated Mardijo with a wide margin.
[3] Thousands of Mardijo's supporters rioted following the vote, damaging PDI-P tents and forcing the councillors to be evacuated.
[4] In 2005, he was accused of graft of the provincial budget, and was sentenced to one year in prison by the Semarang District Court.