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nalysts and politicians have agreed that the only way that Muslim-based political parties can keep their heads above water in the 2014 elections is to form a coalition.

The prospects for Muslim parties have been increasingly grim. According to an opinion poll conducted by the research department of Kompas daily that was released last week, support for major Muslim political parties was in the single digits.

In the survey, the most popular Muslim party was the Prosperous Justice Party’s (PKS), which was backed by 3 percent of respondents, followed by the National Mandate Party’s (PAN) at 1.8 percent, and the United Development Party (PPP) at 1 percent.

The Muslim party that fared the worst, the National Awakening Party (PKB), was backed by 0.4 percent of respondents.

Another opinion poll released by the National Survey Institute (LSN) in June said that overall support for Islamic parties stood at 15.7 percent, down from 29.14 percent in the 2009 election and from 38.39 percent in 2004.

Political analyst Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Civil Society Circle (LIMA) said that the only way that unpopular Muslim parties could succeed in the presidential and legislative elections in 2014 was to form a single coalition to show that they could put aside partisan differences.

“Islamic parties have no choice but to form a coalition if they hope to have any influence beyond being mere names in 2014,” Ray told The Jakarta Post.

Ray said that building a coalition would not be difficult. “The only thing dividing them are petty and insignificant squabbles. Otherwise, there are no conflicts in terms of theology, visions and missions between these parties,” Ray said.

PPP lawmaker Reni Marlinawari said that the most important factor in determining the success of the coalition would be a leader with fresh and original ideas.

“We need a leader with brand new ideas, who doesn’t necessarily have to be young, but should be fresh in terms of thought and action,” Reni said.

Senior PAN lawmaker Tjatur Sapto Edy said that a coalition might be formed across religious lines, as long as the leader was a pious person, regardless of their faith.

“We have no problems with having Christian at the helm. That can still work out,” Tjatur said.

“The great thing about the Indonesian people is their interfaith tolerance. We had Dutch Christians colonizing us for centuries, and yet it is still easy to find churches anywhere,” he said.