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Jakarta Post

Golkar, Democrats may join forces

Ready for the race: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second left) poses with members of the Community of Jokowi Friends in Jakarta on Saturday

Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, May 18, 2014

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Golkar, Democrats may join forces Ready for the race: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second left) poses with members of the Community of Jokowi Friends in Jakarta on Saturday. The community was set up to help Jokowi win the July 9 election. (JP/DON) (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second left) poses with members of the Community of Jokowi Friends in Jakarta on Saturday. The community was set up to help Jokowi win the July 9 election. (JP/DON)

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span class="inline inline-none">Ready for the race: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo (second left) poses with members of the Community of Jokowi Friends in Jakarta on Saturday. The community was set up to help Jokowi win the July 9 election. (JP/DON)

The Golkar Party and the Democratic Party will decide on Sunday whether to form their own coalition to field Aburizal Bakrie and Pramono Edhie Wibowo in July'€™s presidential election.

A team consisting of executives from both parties has reportedly agreed to propose the pair in the parties'€™ national leadership meetings (Rapimnas).

'€œLast night or after three days of discussions, the team decided to propose the pair and will report the decision to our respective chairman,'€ senior Golkar politician and current industry minister, MS Hidayat, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. '€œHowever, the decision will be made at each Rapimnas.'€

With only three days left before registration closes for the presidential race, Golkar and the Democrats are still in limbo while other parties have decided to join the coalitions led by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party.

Based on the results of April'€™s legislative election, Golkar and the Democrats garnered about 27 percent of the seats at the House of Representatives. The alliance between the two parties, if materialized, would be enough to enable the two parties to cross the electoral threshold required for presidential nomination.

Under the prevailing law, a political party or a group of political parties must secure at least 25 percent of the popular vote or 20 percent of seats at the House to nominate a presidential candidate.

Aburizal, Golkar'€™s chairman and presidential nominee, is on the verge of losing his chance to run in the presidential race.

Several party members have repeatedly expressed concern about his poor electability and called for a review of his candidacy. An alliance with the Democrats is now the only hope for Aburizal to keep his presidential bid alive as no other parties are willing to support him.

Democratic Party executive Syariefuddin Hasan, however, said his party was still considering all possibilities. '€œA coalition with Golkar has not yet been decided,'€ Syarief said as quoted by Antara news agency.

The Democratic Party recently wrapped up its presidential convention and announced State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan as its winner. The party, however, will not endorse Dahlan and is likely to propose Pramono, the brother in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, instead.

Pramono came in second place at the convention after Dahlan with an electability rating of 1.7 to 4.3 percent.

Democratic Party ethics council chairman Amir Syamsuddin, who is also the law and human rights minister, has also proposed the party support Golkar politician Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as a presidential candidate.

It is believed that the electability of Hamengkubuwono could match that of PDI-P'€™s Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Gerindra'€™s Prabowo Subianto, the strongest contenders in the presidential race, if he were paired with former trade minister Gita Wirjawan, one of the convention participants.

The two parties are also still considering joining the PDI-P-led coalition, with several party members voicing doubts over Aburizal'€™s nomination.

Golkar spokesman Tantowi Yahya said Golkar should consider whether it was ready to prepare presidential candidates to compete with others. '€œCan we [Golkar and Democrats] be ready with 50 days [before the July election]? Two other candidates [Jokowi and Prabowo] have been preparing all this time,'€ he said. '€œI'€™m not saying it is impossible to be a dark horse; but let'€™s be realistic.'€

Golkar advisory council deputy head Luhut Binsar Panjaitan has also said that the party is only inches from forging an alliance with the election winner to endorse Jokowi'€™s candidacy, pending approval from Sunday'€™s national executive meeting.

PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo said separately that his party did not want to meddle in Golkar'€™s decision about a coalition. '€œAs of this morning [Saturday], we are still communicating with Golkar leaders. However, the decision is in Golkar'€™s hands,'€ Tjahjo said.

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