After more than one year of speculation and politicking, Golkar and PAN – which were previously joined in the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) – have finally landed on Prabowo as their presidential candidate of choice in next year’s elections.

The announcement was made by Golkar and PAN chairs Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan at the Tugu Proklamasi (Proclamation Monument) complex in Central Jakarta in front of Prabowo himself. Also attending the event was Muhaimin Iskandar, who leads the pro-government National Awakening Party (PKB), Gerindra’s initial partner for the 2024 presidential election.

Speaking of Golkar’s decision to back Prabowo, Airlangga said Golkar views his leadership as being the most “appropriate” in bringing Indonesia out of the middle-income trap. “The [development] process that has been started by President [Jokowi] must be continued, and we think that Prabowo is the right figure to do so,” Airlangga, who is also President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s coordinating economic minister, said.

Zulkifli, meanwhile, cited PAN's long-standing history of backing Prabowo in past presidential elections as a reason for its continued support for the retired general.

“For the past 10 years, we have fought together with Prabowo [during the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections],” Zulkifli said.

In his closing remarks, Prabowo said the four parties all shared a common value of wanting to avoid a divisive election next year, as the coalition views a united Indonesia to be a prerequisite in ushering through development once Jokowi steps down from office.