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Golkar to join forces with PKB-Gerindra, Muhaimin says
National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar said the Golkar Party had decided to join forces with the Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR) amid a plan by major pro-government parties to stitch together a big-tent alliance to back a unified presidential ticket in the 2024 race.
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Officials sort and fold ballots for the 2019 presidential election at a General Elections Committee (KPU) warehouse at STT Mandala University in Bandung, West Java, on April 1, 2019. (Antara/Novrian Arbi)
National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar said the Golkar Party had decided to join forces with the Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR) amid a plan by major pro-government parties to stitch together a big-tent alliance to back a unified presidential ticket in the 2024 race.
“The new ‘fixed’ addition to the PKB-Gerindra Party alliance is Golkar. Hopefully, it won't change," Muhaimin said on Tuesday, referring to the KKIR.
“It will be followed by the National Mandate Party [PAN], the United Development Party [PPP] and others. We hope this will further strengthen the PKB-Gerindra alliance," he added.
The PAN and the PPP are members of the Golkar-led United Indonesia Coalition (KIB), which, along with the KKIR, is among one of two major electoral alliances of pro-government parties that cover five of seven parties currently backing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s administration. Leaders of the five parties declared earlier this month that they were weighing on a plan to stitch the blocs together to back the same presidential candidate in the 2024 race.
Muhaimin said leaders of the proposed grand alliance had recently convened in Jakarta to “mature” the electoral cooperation plan and anticipate an upcoming Constitutional Court decision on whether the country would ditch the current open-list proportional representation format for legislative elections.
The court is currently reviewing a petition filed by a ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) member and several other plaintiffs that seeks to restore a closed-list system for the legislative elections, in which voters solely vote for parties that in turn exclusively decide the winning candidates proportionate to the number of votes won. If granted, this would be a departure from the prevailing system, which allows voters to choose among legislative candidates on open-list ballots.
“We remind the court not to be hasty. The [upcoming] elections [in 2024] have been prepared. All legislative candidates are ready to register later this May,” Muhaimin added.
