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Gerindra-PKB alliance form joint secretariat, still mum on 2024 candidates
The Gerindra and PKB have formalized their nationalist-Islamist alliance through a joint secretariat in Jakarta, but still appear to be keeping their options open for the 2024 race.
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Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto gestures as he attends the Gerindra Party’s national leaders national meeting on Aug. 12, 2022 in Bogor, West Java. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
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n inaugurating a joint secretariat, the Gerindra Party-National Awakening Party (PKB) electoral alliance has moved one step closer to cementing its bid for the presidency in 2024.
After hosting the ribbon cutting ceremony at the secretariat’s Jakarta premises on Monday, Gerindra chair Prabowo Subianto and PKB chair Muhaimin Iskandar reiterated the parties’ mutual commitment, but they did not announce any candidates.
“Today’s inauguration is proof that the cooperation between the two parties is solid, that we both have the same spirit and faith in fighting for the people,” said Prabowo.
The defense minister, who confirmed his intention to run in 2024 as Gerindra’s presidential candidate last August, described his party as a nationalist party with a religious bent and the PKB as a religious party with a nationalist bent as Muhaimin added that “the two forces complement each other”.
Bawono Kumoro, an analyst at pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post that Monday’s inauguration of a joint secretariat showed the growing relationship between the two parties. He also noted that the Gerindra-PKB alliance was at a more advanced stage compared to other alliances, whether existing or potential.
“The new joint secretariat means that this coalition is at the point of no return. Yes, politics is dynamic, but with the two parties’ names etched in the joint secretariat, it would be a political embarrassment if either party backed out,” said Bawono.
The move marks a turnaround since November, when Muhaimin floated the idea of leaving the alliance if he was not named a vice presidential candidate, which left leaving the alliance’s fate hanging in the balance.
