Democratic Party chairman and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has countered claims that his party is doing nothing for Prabowo Subianto, the presidential candidate the party has officially endorsed.

Yudhoyono has pledged to start campaigning on behalf of the Gerindra Party chairman, who is running with former Jakarta deputy governor Sandiaga Uno, in January.

He invited Prabowo to his residence in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Friday evening, to review the campaigns for both the legislative and presidential elections that have been underway for the past three months.

“From January to April, we have agreed to focus on Prabowo. We want Prabowo to win the election. But the Democrats and Gerindra also have to be successful [in the legislative elections],” Yudhoyono said after the two-hour closed meeting.

He said he was also concerned at the campaign style of Prabowo, who, he said, had yet to fully respond to what the people need.

“As far as I can see, during these three months of campaigning, there has not been enough room for listening to the people, [the campaign] has mostly been about attacking,” Yudhoyono said.

Some sources within the Democrats also said that Yudhoyono wanted Prabowo to be more active and more resourceful in picking opportunities to deliver his vision and mission to voters.

Since the campaign period kicked off on Sept. 23, Yudhoyono and the Democrats have not officially campaigned for Prabowo, with a number of party executives admitting that the party was focused on the campaign for the legislative polls, in which political parties will compete for seats in the House of Representatives and regional councils.

Gerindra executives have questioned the Democrats’ commitment to supporting Prabowo and have urged Yudhoyono to campaign for Prabowo. However, Yudhoyono hit back by saying that all political parties should definitely prioritize legislative elections.

The Democrats won 20.85 percent of the vote in the 2009 election for the House. At that time, Yudhoyono was seeking reelection and at the height of his popularity as incumbent, giving the party more House seats than any other party. The party fell to fourth place in the 2014 election, garnering only 10.19 percent of the vote.

For the 2019 election, the party has eyed securing 12 percent of the vote. However, Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Renanda Bachtar said that as of late November, the party was on 8 percent, according to its internal polling.

“That’s why starting in January, the Democrats will focus on Prabowo without putting aside the legislative campaign. Yudhoyono wants the campaigns to benefit each other,” Renanda said.

He also claimed that in the regions, around 65 percent of Democrat members were committed to supporting Prabowo.

The Democrats’ internal polling in late November also showed that Prabowo was only 10 percent behind Jokowi, compared with almost 20 percent in October.

“Therefore Yudhoyono is now more confident [about campaigning for Prabowo],” Renanda said.

The Democrats and Gerindra, along with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and National Mandate Party (PAN), have three months in which to boost Prabowo’s electability.

”Specifically, Yudhoyono and Prabowo talked about the campaign strategy for Prabowo to win West Java, Central Java and East Java,” party deputy secretary-general Andi Arief said, referring to the country’s three most populous provinces, which are home to more than half of the country’s voters.

Yudhoyono will directly campaign for Prabowo in East and Central Java, two big provinces known as strongholds of Jokowi and his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while Yudhoyono’s son Agus Harimurti will be in charge for West Java.

Prabowo said he had never doubted Yudhoyono’s commitment. “He is a former president, a retired military general, a statesman. I am sure he has certain calculations. We’ll be stronger with the participation of the Democrats,” Prabowo said.

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