Golkar chairman Airlangga Hartarto and PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar came to the agreement at an upmarket restaurant in a leafy cul-de-sac in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, appearing to reaffirm their wish to carry over the big-tent ruling coalition beyond 2024 amid complications in alliance-building negotiations.

Pro-government Golkar previously struck a “headless” partnership with the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) as the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB), while the PKB is the sole ally of Gerindra in the Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR). These parties make up the current ruling coalition, which also includes the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the NasDem Party.

Speaking to reporters after a 30-minute meeting between the leadership roster of the two parties, Airlangga and Muhaimin proclaimed their parties to be the core team in realizing the proposal for a “grand alliance” to eventually back Gerindra’s Prabowo as part of a winning ticket.

“The KIB and KKIR have spoken at length [and] we have decided that the [grand coalition] needs a core team as its driving force. As such, today we are pushing for Golkar and the PKB to become the core of the alliance,” Airlangga said on Wednesday.

Airlangga claims that the KIB, which analysts had pegged as the coordinating economic minister’s political vehicle to run in the upcoming race, remains intact despite the PPP recently announcing that it would back the PDI-P’s nomination of Ganjar Pranowo as presidential candidate, effectively renegotiating the constellation of electoral alliances.

“Last week I gathered with KIB members and we remain solid partners, [Golkar and the PKB] will continue to move in tandem and communicate with other parties so that they can be included in the grand alliance,” he added.

The question of who will fill the presidential and vice-presidential slots is still up for discussion, the two senior politicians suggested, but both Golkar and Gerindra executives have said they have weighed the possibility of pairing Prabowo with either Airlangga or Muhaimin.

“Of course, everything that [the PKB and Golkar] have done cannot be separated from our efforts to determine and simulate [candidate pairings] until a final decision is made,” Muhaimin told reporters after Wednesday’s talks.

“Our simulations have yet to rule out the many possibilities available to us, whether a Prabowo-Muhaimin pairing, a Prabowo-Airlangga pairing or Airlangga-Muhaimin. We are still currently exploring options as part of the process,” he added.

To solidify this new understanding between the two parties, Golkar and the PKB have formed a joint-campaign and election committee, appointing Golkar executive Nusron Wahid and PKB stalwart Faisol Reza to lead efforts to support the eventual candidate pairing.

Eggs in baskets

The announcement came just a day after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo hosted a post-Ramadan gathering with leaders of most pro-government parties, as talks about an alliance to back a single pro-government candidate appeared to have hit a wall after Central Java Governor Ganjar’s surprise nomination before the Idul Fitri break.

NasDem’s Surya Paloh was reportedly excluded from the meeting, in light of the party’s support for opposition figurehead Anies Baswedan’s presidential bid, a big point of contention for Jokowi and his ruling coalition.

Senior PPP politician Muhammad “Romy” Romahurmuziy, another close ally of Jokowi, previously said that Jokowi’s invitation was pegged as an opportunity to determine the distribution of power among the six government parties in case a proposal for Ganjar and Prabowo to pair up fizzles.

Golkar appears to be resistant to the idea of having the PDI-P join the grand alliance, observers have said, since it could change the dynamic of the idea proposed by the other pro-government parties. Several Golkar executives have outlined a precondition for the largest party in the government coalition to refrain from dominating the grand alliance should it wish to join.

Golkar’s Nusron, for instance, said during Wednesday’s meeting that the “PDI-P already has its own presidential candidate” and that both Golkar and the PKB were trying to find alternative arrangements for the candidate pairing.

The grand alliance would, however, keep its door open to other coalition allies such as the PPP and PAN to join once they decide whether to back Prabowo or join the PDI-P, the Golkar politician said.

“The most important thing is that we have a team ready and we will have no problem should PAN or the PPP join us,” he said.

Airlangga and Muhaimin themselves have been keeping other options open, having met with various figures from across the political spectrum in the hope of strengthening their respective bargaining power.

Muhaimin was scheduled to meet with Democratic Party chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and his father, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Cikeas, West Java, on Wednesday night, following Airlangga’s lead from Saturday.

Airlangga himself met with Prabowo at the private residence of former Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie on Monday.