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Parties show greater resistance to include Gerindra after Mega-Prabowo meeting
A political analyst suggests that inviting Gerindra into the ruling coalition may prompt coalition members to renegotiate their terms and, thus, create risks.
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Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri (left) and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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ollowing a meeting between Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) matron Megawati Soekarnoputri and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday, political parties in the ruling coalition have shown greater resistance to allowing Gerindra in their fold.
On the same day, NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh from the ruling coalition met with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, a politician once favored as a presidential candidate by opposition party Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), raising speculation over NasDem’s course after the 2019 elections.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will serve his second and last term as President, setting up what observers say is a level playing field for those aspiring to run for the country’s top job in the next presidential election.
In addition to talks over the upcoming Cabinet, political parties that gained the most seats in the April legislative election are also scrambling to secure strategic leadership posts at the House of Representatives and the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), presumably to ensure a chance to field their preferred presidential candidate in 2024.
Should the current presidential threshold at 20 percent be maintained, most parties would find it difficult to nominate their preferred candidate without building a coalition with other parties.
Two days before the Megawati-Prabowo meeting, four party leaders in the coalition held a meeting at NasDem headquarters in Jakarta without any PDI-P representatives. After the meeting, the leaders announced they were opposed to bringing a new member into the coalition.
NasDem secretary-general Johnny G. Plate said on Thursday that the ruling camp remained solid.
