Prabowo will answer growing demand for his candidacy from party members during their national leadership meeting on Aug. 13 in Bogor, West Java, Gerindra central executive board head Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said.

The party planned to hold its national leadership meeting this Saturday, but it was rescheduled after it decided to put another item on the agenda of the meeting: to declare forming an alliance with the National Awakening Party (PKB).

“[We reached] an agreement during a meeting on Tuesday with the PKB. Therefore, the national leadership meeting that will announce the presidential nomination and [the establishment of the] coalition will be carried out on Aug. 13,” Dasco told reporters on Wednesday.

Despite having the authority to pick who the party will nominate, Prabowo preferred a unanimous decision-making process so that he could see whether members jointly agreed to support him in the election, Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani said on Monday.

“The most important [item on the agenda] in the meeting will be to hear Prabowo’s direct answer to the request,” Ahmad said. "All party officials from district, regional and central levels, and all members want, hope and ask for Prabowo's willingness to run in the 2024 presidential election."

Over the past few months, some central executive board senior members and heads of local branches have staged public declarations endorsing the retired Army general to run again in several regions — including West Sumatra, where Prabowo won by a significant margin against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2014 and 2019.

The Gerindra patron also recently turned heads with his sudden high-profile visits during the Idul Fitri holidays to prominent figures and Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated Islamic boarding schools across Central Java and East Java, two regions that he lost during the 2014 and 2019 elections.

One of the visits was to East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who also heads NU's women’s wing Muslimat and reportedly is one of the stronger contenders being considered by Gerindra elites to be paired with Prabowo.

Running mate

Gerindra has yet to decide on who the party will nominate as Prabowo’s running mate and likely will not discuss this in the coming meeting.

“There will be another forum [after the Bogor meeting] to discuss the vice-presidential candidate," Dasco said.

Read also: Gerindra firms up on forming coalition with PKB

Talks of a political alliance between Gerindra and the PKB first came to the fore in late June after Prabowo hosted a dinner with PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and his entourage at his residence in Jakarta. They told reporters afterward that they had found common ground and "were ready to work together".

PKB elites have since floated the idea of nominating Muhaimin as Prabowo’s running mate, claiming that the pair would secure victory in the 2024 presidential elections.

Gerindra is planning to invite Muhaimin to join Prabowo in declaring the alliance between the two parties during the coming Bogor meeting.

Dasco said that Gerindra would “open the door for other parties to join [the coalition]”.

Political observer Dedi Kurnia Syah said that a declaration of Prabowo's candidacy might close the door on the possibility of Gerindra teaming up with the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Over the past year, Gerindra and the PDI-P have hinted at the possibility of pairing Prabowo and House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani, who is the daughter of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Prabowo has consistently been the most or the second-most electable prospective candidate in many recent surveys, but Puan’s rock-bottom popularity would drag down their combined figure.

“The declaration will ensure that Gerindra permits no option other than backing Prabowo [as presidential candidate]; so other parties that wish to join only have the option of nominating his running mate,” Dedi said.

KIB disintegration?

While the political landscape remains very fluid two years ahead of the election, Gerindra's maneuvering could further make way for a possible disintegration of the newly formed United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) — the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) alliance — in the future.

Read also: Golkar-PAN-PPP alliance keeps options open, hints at nominating popular governors

“Another party that has a prospect joining a Gerindra-PKB alliance would be PAN,” Dedi said, arguing that the latter had “a good relationship with Gerindra”.

PAN, the newest member of Jokowi’s ruling coalition, is set to hold a national meeting on Aug. 26, during which it will announce six names of its preferred presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

PAN deputy chairman Yandri Susanto recently said that State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir – an avid supporter of President Jokowi – had fielded growing support from PAN's regional branches for his nomination.

 

Editor's note: This article has been updated.