Gerindra Stops Proposing Amien Rais as Presidential Candidate
1 July 2018 15:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Gerindra Party Secretary-General Ahmad Muzani said his party insists to propose Prabowo Subianto as a presidential candidate. “Yes, the presidential candidate is still Pak Prabowo now,” he said at his house in Kemang, Jakarta, Sunday, July 1.
Muzani said it was to respond to Amien Rais who declared by the Coalition of Ummat Madani Center (KUM) as the 2019 presidential candidate. KUM declared the Chairman of the National Mandate Party Mandate (PAN) due to inspired by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's victory.
KUM assessed that the figure of Amien Rais who is still 19 years younger than Mahathir is suitable to lead the government. "The 93-year-old Mahathir was able to subvert Najib as an incumbent with great funding," advocate Eggy Sudjana read the declaration at Al Jazeerah Restaurant, East Jakarta, Saturday, June 30.
Muzani said the Gerindra Party respected the KUM declaration. He said everyone has rights to declare a candidate. "Yes it is the right of people to declare anybody," he said.
Despite rejecting the senior figure of PAN as a presidential candidate, Muzani said his party's relationship with PAN is still good, even with the PKS. Both parties are said to be in coalition with Gerindra to propose Prabowo as the 2019 presidential candidate. But PKS and PAN have not explicitly declared a coalition with Gerindra.
Muzani said the communication between Gerindra, PAN and PKS is still good. He said he was in the stage of making a more solid coalition to propose Prabowo. "A stronger coalition," he said.
Meanwhile, Muzani said that he is still discussing the figure of the vice presidential candidate who will be proposed. He said the discussion between the coalition parties about the vice presidential candidates will be held this week. "In God’s willing, the results will be submitted to the community," he said.
DEWI NURITA