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espite its pledge to support the government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on direct regional elections, the opposition Red-and-White Coalition has indicated that it will not give the ruling coalition an easy ride during the deliberation of the Perppu at the House of Representatives next year.

Gerindra Party executive Ahmad Riza Patria told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that instead of fully accepting the Perppu, the Red-and-White Coalition would push the House to choose one of two alternative options: rejecting the Perppu and immediately working with the government to establish a revised law on direct elections or accepting it with a commitment to swiftly draft a similar law.

'€œOur point is that the Perppu still lacks many necessary details, like possible sanctions for regional leaders and explanations of the e-voting mechanism. So the House and the government must work together to create a comprehensive law that will improve [the quality of] our regional elections,'€ said Riza, who is also deputy chairman of House Commission II overseeing domestic governance and regional autonomy.

Direct elections were reinstated by then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono through the Perppu on direct local elections following criticism of his inaction that allowed a law to pass in the House in October that returned the power to elect regional leaders to regional legislative councils (DPRDs).

Party leaders within the Red-and-White Coalition had signed a pact to support the proposal of Yudhoyono'€™s Democratic Party to support the Perppu in exchange for the latter'€™s support for joining their opposition coalition at the House and the People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The coalition, however, has been on the verge of breaking apart recently, following a split within the Golkar Party, the current leader of the opposition coalition.

At a recent national congress in Bali, the leader of one faction of Golkar, Aburizal Bakrie, announced a plan to break the deal with Yu-dhoyono and to reject the Perppu in the House.

His stance was quickly opposed by Yudhoyono, the Democrats'€™ chairman, who directly sealed a new alliance with President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s Great Indonesia Coalition to support the Perppu.

On Thursday, the Democrats'€™ acting chairman Syariefuddin Hasan announced that leaders of the political parties in the coalition had finally agreed to support the Perppu after they held a consultation meeting with Yudhoyono at his residence in Cikeas, Bogor.

Earlier this month, President Jokowi prepared anticipatory moves by signing Government Regulation No. 102/2014 '€” which stipulates that governors, regents and mayors may have up to three deputies '€” a regulation analysts believe will trigger backroom power-sharing deals among regional leaderships.

Riza, however, refused to comment on the matter, saying it was the President'€™s prerogative to issue necessary regulations to implement the existing Perppu.

Democratic Party executive Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin said: '€œWe have yet to learn about the details of the newly issued [government] regulation.'€

Next year, Indonesia is scheduled to hold regional elections in eight provinces: North Kalimantan, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Sumatra, Riau Islands, North Sulawesi and Bengkulu. Elections will also take place in 153 regencies, 26 cities and 17 new regions.

Gadjah Mada University political analyst Purwo Santoso, however, said he believed that it would not be difficult for the ruling coalition to achieve the House'€™s support for the Perppu since Golkar and the United Development Party (PPP), a fellow member in the opposition coalition, were undergoing intensive leadership disputes.

'€œThat is because the coalition was formed based on power-seeking motives, not on ideological grounds,'€ he said.