TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) central board M. Najib said his party had yet to decide on its political stance regarding which political coalition it would join to face the presidential elections on July 9.
The party, he added, was still monitoring the developments surrounding the existing coalitions. “There is no crystallization of support yet in our internal elements as to which coalition to choose,” Najib said in a discussion titled “Forecasting the Chances of the Fourth Axis,” in Cikini, Jakarta, on Thursday, May 1, 2014.
According to Najib, there were only two political inclinations in the party so far: either siding with Joko Widodo or Prabowo Subianto. But he added there were also thoughts that the party should continue keeping an eye on the Democrat Party, i.e. as to whether its chairman, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, would decide to propose its own presidential candidate.
Najib said it was still possible that the party would form a coalition with the Democrat as the party had continued to communicate intensely with other parties. He added although the party had been said to be close to the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra), but it had yet to make a final decision with regard to its coalition stance. Najib said the party was also still waiting for the final vote tally from the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Earlier, the chief of the general election council of the party’s central board, Viva Yoga Mauladi, said the party would form a coalition with the Gerindra Party to engage in the presidential race.
Aside from PAN, Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto also sought to establish a coalition with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in order for him to be eligible to run for president. The requirement for a politician to run for president is that his or her party must garner 25 percent of the total national vote or 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives.
The PKS, however, had yet to make any official statement regarding its support to Prabowo. PKS spokesman Ali Sera said his party was still in talks with the Gerindra Party regarding the former’s support to Prabowo, and that it was still possible that the PKS would join another coalition.
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