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PDI-P to decide alliance partners after presidential candidate announcement
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he ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said its decision about whom it would forge an electoral alliance with would be made after the party matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri named its presidential candidate, a move analysts said would likely lead to the creation of another bloc.
The remark was made by PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto amid a plan by other major pro-government parties to build a grand coalition for the 2024 presidential election.
“Any cooperation between PDI-P and other political parties will be carried out after the announcement of the presidential candidate by Megawati at the right moment,” Hasto told The Jakarta Post on Saturday night.
“The PDI-P’s stance is very clear in that it will nominate a party member as a presidential candidate. That is the basis of a partnership that we will seek to forge,” he added.
Political jockeying ahead of the upcoming presidential race intensifies as leaders of pro-government parties announced earlier this month they were weighing on a plan to merge the Golkar Party-led United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) and the Gerindra Party-led Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR) to nominate a unified presidential ticket in 2024. The bloc would consist of five of the seven parties currently supporting President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo: Golkar, Gerindra, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
The absence of the PDI-P, the party of which Jokowi is a member, during the announcement of the initiative earlier this month, has caused speculation the initiative would isolate the ruling party after what appears to be a clash between Jokowi and his party over Israeli participation in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Gerindra chair Prabowo Subianto said last week his party was open to the idea of PDI-P joining the alliance, noting he was expected to meet with Megawati's daughter and House Speaker Puan Maharani, a PDI-P executive in charge of leading explorations of potential electoral alliances, to discuss the possibility of cooperation.
PAN secretary-general Eddy Soeparno, however, stressed that any strategic decision, including in regards to presidential and vice-presidential candidates, must be consulted on with alliance members, saying, “Whatever has become the standpoint of each party should be open for discussion.”
Golkar’s deputy chairman Nurdin Halid even suggested the ruling party form its own alliance if it insists on having its party member be named as a presidential candidate, stressing PDI-P’s addition in the bloc would “add to the already intricate” alliance building.
Read also: PDI-P must not dominate grand alliance, Golkar says
PDI-P, however, remained confident exploratory talks of alliance building would intensify once the PDI-P’s presidential candidate was unveiled, stressing both Megawati and Jokowi would spearhead the party’s effort to find an alliance partner, Hasto said.
“What Golkar was doing was still a discourse, which is still very fluid and only appears in elite meetings covered by the media. Political parties are still assessing issues related to the presidential and vice-presidential candidates,” he said, stressing that “consolidation of any cooperation will occur after the announcement of PDI-P's presidential candidate".
“Reflecting on past experience in 2014 and 2019, after announcing our presidential candidate, there would be intensification in building political cooperation, of which Megawati would lead directly, and, of course, also in a joint effort with Jokowi, considering he is from PDI-P,” he added.
Meanwhile, PPP was still unconvinced the big tent alliance would eventually crystalize, noting that, as party executive Achmad Baidowi put it, finding common ground when there were more than three presidential candidates in a single alliance was “politically, mathematically impossible” to resolve.
Analyst Bawono Kumoro of pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia said PDI-P’s insistence on backing its presidential candidate in the upcoming race would likely lead to the creation of a new political bloc.
“It is unlikely Prabowo would settle for the vice-presidential seat. Running for one would be unfavorable for Prabowo’s public image, especially after he ran as Megawati’s running mate in 2009 and as a presidential candidate in 2014 and 2019," Bawono said. "Prabowo's rising electability now would also be beneficial for his party as it would generate a coattail effect."
Read also: PDI-P denies claims that Megawati has settled on Ganjar for 2024 nomination
Prabowo is now a leading frontrunner overtaking Central Java Governor and PDI-P member Ganjar Pranowo, who had long been touted to be Jokowi’s preferred successor, in the latest public opinion poll.
There was also a possibility the PDI-P-led bloc would draw in some members of the proposed KIB-KKIR grand alliance, Bawono noted, particularly if PDI-P picked Ganjar as its presidential candidate.
But Bawono warned the longer the PDI-P kept mum about its presidential candidate, the harder Ganjar’s electability would be to restore following his rejection of Israel’s participation in the U-20 World Cup.
