T

he Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) is in talks with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join forces to support the ticket of Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahya Purnama in the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial election.

Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani said his party considered the proposal a sound one. “At this point, we are optimistic that the PDI-P will join us in this matter,” Muzani told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Gerindra currently holds six seats on the Jakarta council, while the PDI-P is the third-largest party in the council with 11 seats. Parties or a coalition of parties need a minimum of 15 seats in the local house in order to be able to name one of its own candidates for the governorship.

Muzani said Gerindra’s chief patron, Prabowo Subianto, would announce the party’s stance within a day or two should the PDI-P decline their proposal.

Previously, Prabowo had said his party would support Surakarta Mayor Jokowi and Golkar Party lawmaker Ahok in the Jakarta gubernatorial election for the simple reason that they were both renowned for their integrity.

Prabowo then discussed the matter with PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and received positive feedback. It was reported that Megawati agreed with the proposal.

However, senior PDI-P politician and Megawati’s husband, Taufik Kiemas, disagreed with Jokowi’s bid and suggested that the PDI-P support incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo.

So far, only the coalition comprising the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the United Development Party (PPP) has announced their candidates — South Sumatran Governor Alex Noerdin and Marine Lt. Gen. (ret.) Nono Soempono.

Only the Democratic Party, the largest party in the council with 32 seats, and the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the second-largest party with 18 seats, can nominate candidates without forming a coalition.

The Democratic Party has not yet endorsed a candidate, although senior members have indicated it will likely back Fauzi, who is a member of the party’s advisory council, in his reelection bid.

Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum said the party would announce their pair on the last day of registration, on Monday.

“We will form a coalition with another party and our pair will represent the coalition,” Anas said, without giving further details.

Separately, on Friday, independent hopefuls Hendardji Supandji and his running mate Ahmad Riza Patria filed their application to run as candidates with the Jakarta branch of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

However, the pair’s application was not complete and lacked a number of documents, including a list of all those on their campaign team and the bank account used for their campaign funds.

“We will complete the documents in two or three days,” Hendardji said.

The two hopefuls are the second pair of independents to register at the KPU, following Faisal Basri and his running mate Biem Benjamin.

The KPU has announced that both pairs have yet to meet the required minimum number of signed-up supporters in order to run.

Only 216,584 of the 442,938 endorsements that had been collected for Faisal and Biem were valid, which means they need to collect another 190,756 endorsements should they still wish to run in the election.

Meanwhile, Hendardji and Ahmad need another 14,839 endorsements to qualify. The KPU allows candidates until April 9 to fulfill the requirement.