Mixed reaction to Dems' coalition plan

JAKARTA.  Many Democratic Party’s provincial leaders believed the party should support other parties’ presidential candidates amid growing support for the party forming its own coalition and nominating its own presidential candidate, a party executive said on Saturday.

Various responses by the regional leaders were presented to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the chairman of the Democratic Party, during a meeting at Yudhoyono’s residence in Cikeas, West Java, on Saturday afternoon.

As many as 32 out of 33 provincial chapters were represented in the meeting, leaving only the Papua provincial chapter absent.

“Each provincial executive presented an evaluation of the party’s legislative election performance in their respective province as well as delivering their ideas on what the party should do ahead of the presidential election,” executive chairman Syariefuddin Hasan told reporters after the meeting.

“When it comes to a coalition for the presidential race, there were mixed responses with no dominant support for any particular move. Some said we should go with our own candidate, some suggested that we should join in a coalition to support other parties’ presidential candidates. Some regional executives even said that we should be ready to serve in opposition,” the cooperatives and small and medium enterprises minister added.

Syariefuddin acknowledged that some of the party’s provincial executives had proposed that the Democratic Party join the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) coalition to support presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

When asked which provincial executives went with that idea, the minister said, “ I don’t remember.”

“Our chairman [Yudhoyono] received all of the input positively. Let’s see what happens next,” Syariefuddin said. “Every opportunity for political cooperation is being examined. We are seeking to communicate with all political figures including [PDI-P chairwoman] Megawati Soekarnoputri.”

Megawati and Yudhoyono have a bitter relationship dating back to 2004 when the latter was a minister in Megawati’s cabinet. It has reportedly been a significant factor hindering possible political cooperation between the PDI-P and the Democratic Party.

Deputy chairman Max Sopacua denied the responses from some of the regional executives were a setback for the Democrats’ plan to form their own coalition.

“What setback? We hadn’t made any decision on the presidential election in the first place,” he said, implying that the idea of the party forming its own coalition ahead of the July 9 presidential race had not been an official decision.

Despite the party’s slump in the April 9 legislative election, which left the Democratic Party in fourth position with around 10 percent of the vote, as opposed to the 20 percent it garnered in 2009, there have been suggestions that the party form and lead a coalition with other middle-ranking parties to reach an accumulative popular vote of 25 percent, which is required in order to nominate a presidential candidate.

The presidential candidate will be the winner of the Democratic Party’s ongoing presidential convention which will be announced on May 15.

The convention’s 11 participants will have their last public debate on Sunday.