The potential alliance, which is set to serve as a political vehicle for former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan in the 2024 presidential race, remains on shaky ground. The parties have yet to find common ground regarding the question of who will run alongside Anies, the strongest challenger to progovernment presidential hopefuls.  

In a joint press conference following a meeting of party representatives at Anies’ private residence in Cilandak, South Jakarta, the parties claimed to have agreed to officiate their partnership, but stopped short of setting an exact date.

“All of the stages [of negotiation] went well… We will prepare ourselves to hold a joint declaration at the right time,” Sudirman Said, a spokesman for Anies, told reporters, in an apparent attempt to highlight the progress in the coalition talks. In a post uploaded on his official Instagram account, the former education minister claimed the parties were more solid than ever, saying they were all ready to “move forward together”.

Analysts, however, said the joint presser at Anies’ residence reflected his attempt to keep his presidential bid alive than the actual state of the coalition’s solidity.     

NasDem, Dems tensions

The meeting came only days after a handful of elites from NasDem, which has officially declared its support for Anies, paid an unexpected visit to the newly launched joint secretariat for the Gerindra Party-National Awakening Party (PKB) alliance, drawing speculation that NasDem has grown impatient with its prospective coalition partners and may have another plan in mind, including joining the Gerindra-PKB coalition.