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Three-horse race takes shape for 2024 presidential election
The election is shaping up to be a three-horse race as political parties have been opening communication with potential allies to assemble new competitive coalitions.
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A printing company employee checks the color quality of ballot papers for the 2019 presidential election in Jakarta in this undated photo. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan )
W
hile Indonesia is caught up in a political tug of war over a possible delay in the next presidential election in 2024 or whether President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will have his final term extended, coalition building for the upcoming race remains underway.
The election is shaping up to be a three-horse race as political parties open communication with potential allies to assemble new competitive coalitions.
New political force
Last month, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, the leader of the biggest opposition the Democratic Party, paid a visit to pro-government NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh, during which they both explored the possibility of forming a coalition together. They also agreed to heat up each of their political machines to boost their electoral performance and to align their mission of securing an electoral triumph without naming any prospective pair of candidates just yet.
It was the second time in a month that Surya, who has taken a firm stance rejecting the idea of delaying elections, welcomed two party leaders at his office. Surya received Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartanto in a meeting earlier in March, during which they talked about the upcoming elections.
Airlangga – whose party was once a dominant force in Indonesian politics – has struggled with his electability as he has not been able to break into the top five in most surveys.
The flurry of meetings indicates an intensifying effort to assemble coalitions to compete against the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has dominated the country's political landscape for the past seven and a half years.
