When the Democratic Party, the nation’s largest opposition position party, declared its support for presumptive presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto last week, the Gerindra Party chairman became the one to beat in next year’s election, having put together a ballooning alliance resembling President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s cabinet.

As of Thursday, Prabowo’s Indonesia Onward Coalition (KIM) comprised Gerindra, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party, as well as the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the Gelora Party, neither of which holds seats in the House of Representatives.

Furthermore, members of the top military brass have now thrown their weight behind the retired army general, including those who have been at odds with him in the past.

With the Democrats joining the alliance, Prabowo has won the favor of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, chairman of the party’s high council and his former colleague in the military academy.

Prabowo and Yudhoyono displayed congeniality to one another at a recent anniversary of the Veterans Association (Pepabri) despite a falling out in the 2019 election when the former decided to pick his political protegé Sandiaga Uno over the latter’s son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, as his vice-presidential running mate.

The senior Yudhoyono had pledged at the party’s national leadership meeting on Thursday that he would return to the political stage to help Prabowo win the race.

Last week’s maneuvers bookended the Democrats’ search for new allies since withdrawing support for presumptive presidential nominee Anies Baswedan. The former Jakarta governor named National Awakening Party (PKB) chief Muhaimin Iskandar his running mate, snubbing Democratic Party chairman Agus’ VP aspirations.

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