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Prabowo coalition in disarray after bruising defeat
PAN and the Democratic Party have shown repeated signs that they would likely be the first to leave Prabowo’s coalition and throw their support behind Jokowi’s administration.
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Prabowo (center, in black cap and beige top) addresses hundreds of supporters during a mass prayer held on April 19, just two days after the election, at his residence in South Jakarta. (Courtesy of/Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will likely have a stronger grip on the legislative body in his second term in office, with the coalition supporting his defeated rival in the April election officially broken up following a court ruling upholding his reelection.
“As the coalition endorsing [Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno] in the April 17 presidential election, our task as the Just and Prosperous Coalition is complete. Starting today, the [coalition] is over,” Gerindra Party secretary-general Ahmad Muzani told a press conference in South Jakarta on Friday.
Earlier that same day, leaders of political parties in the opposition gathered in a meeting with Prabowo at his residence on Jl. Kertanegara in South Jakarta to decide the fate of their alliance after the Constitutional Court rejected on Thursday its claims that the presidential election had been rigged in favor of the incumbent.
Muzani said Prabowo had given the go-ahead for political parties in the camp to go their separate ways, although the former Army general expressed his hope that communication between them could be maintained.
“At this meeting, we agreed that we will continue to keep contact through coffee morning sessions as an informal medium,” Muzani said. “We would talk about, for example, cooperation in the legislature and other forums that would allow us to get together.”
It is unclear whether three members of the Prabowo coalition — Gerindra, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party — would remain outside the ruling coalition.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has been the only one asserting its intention to be part of the opposition to Jokowi’s administration.
