TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Secretary of the Democrat Convention committee Suaedi Marasabessy has said that the current political situation still allows the party to propose a presidential candidate.
Based on this consideration, he added, the committee would proceed with the presidential primary. "The coalition situation is dynamic. Therefore, we must make use of it," Suaedi said.
Earlier reports said the National Democratic Party (NasDem) was the only party who had announced its coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). The other coalition axes—the Golkar Party and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra)—meanwhile, have yet to decide their coalition partners.
Suaedi said this meant the Democrat still had the chance to join forces with other parties such as the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura).
According to Suaedi, the unclear stance of the middle parties was among the reasons the Democrat decided to continue the convention. He added it was also possible his party would craft a new coalition axis to propose its own presidential contender.
“That is one of the possibilities. We have obtained the results of the parliamentary elections, so what we have to do now is test the convention participants.” The convention, he added, would continue with a debate session featuring the candidates, followed by polls on their electability.
KHAIRUL ANAM
