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span class="inline inline-center">The Red-and-White Coalition claims its unity is holding despite the attendance by two member parties at the national assembly meeting of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Semarang, Central Java.

Several executives from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) attended the PDI-P meeting on Friday, a move many believe is a signal they may jump ship.

The latest development occurred amid speculation that president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo might offer ministerial seats to rival coalition members in trade for support in the on-going deliberation of the election for regional head (Pilkada) bill.

Gerindra Party central board member Desmond Junaidi Mahesa said, '€œthe Red-and-White Coalition is in no way on the brink of a split'€.

He questioned who it was within the PPP that attended the PDI-P meeting, saying the stance of former PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali, who supported losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, should also be taken into account.

Suryadharma was removed from the chairmanship after being named a graft suspect and was replaced by Emron Pangkapi, who is one of the PPP representatives who went to the PDI-P meeting.

'€œThe question is, which PPP [camp] attended the meeting?'€ he said on Friday. '€œThat'€™s why we will wait and see the developments on Sept. 25; that will show the real situation.'€

He was referring to a House plenary session on Sept. 25 that is expected to decide on the fate of the direct-election mechanism in the Pilkada bill, which is backed by members of the Jokowi-led Gotong Royong Coalition.

On Thursday, the Democratic Party announced its support for the direct-election mechanism, a move that is likely to turn the tide during the House plenary session in favor of Jokowi'€™s coalition, although Dems executive chairman Syariefuddin Hasan insisted the party was not seeking a seat in Jokowi'€™s Cabinet.

With the Dems'€™ support, the Jokowi-led coalition will be able to count on a total of 290 seats, outnumbering the 270 seats of the Red-and-White Coalition, which is backing a proposed representative-based election for regional heads.

Agun Gunanjar Sudarsa, an executive and lawmaker of the Golkar Party, which is also resulted from a member of the Red-and-White Coalition, said that his party did not object to the presence of PPP and PAN officials at the PDI-P meeting, arguing that their attendance would not compromise the unity of the coalition.

'€œThe Red-and-White Coalition remains solid. The PPP and PAN will not join the [Jokowi-led] Cabinet,'€ he said.

Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla campaign-team coordinator, and a PDI-P lawmaker, Eva Kusuma Sundari said the call not to restrict ministerial seats to politicians from the Gotong Royong Coalition, but also to open them to members of the rival coalition, thanks to an improvement in politics in the country, leading to a more flexible position.

The Red-and-White Coalition held a small internal meeting at the Hotel Sultan, in Central Jakarta, on Friday evening.

Earlier, spokesman for Prabowo'€™s presidential campaign team, and a Golkar Party lawmaker, Tantowi
Yahya, said the meeting was merely to '€œdiscuss the latest political issues'€.

PPP secretary general Romahurmuziy, who attended the Red-and-White Coalition meeting, said it was simply a regular meeting and nothing to do with the current political situation.

'€œThis is a regular meeting; we frequently hold meetings,'€ Romahurmuziy said.

He also refused to be drawn on whether the future stance of the PPP would be compromised following the attendance of acting party chairman Emron at the PDI-P national meeting in Semarang.