SBY, Prabowo meet to discuss election

JAKARTA. After losing last week’s legislative battle over the presidential threshold, the Democratic Party and the Gerindra Party are pondering an alliance for the 2019 presidential election.

Democratic Party spokeswoman Imelda Sari said in Jakarta on Thursday that party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would meet with his Gerindra Party counterpart Prabowo Subianto later in the evening.

"The meeting is Yudhoyono's positive response to Prabowo's request to meet in the wake of the House of Representatives' decision to pass the election bill last week," Imelda said in a statement.

Separately, Democratic Party deputy chairman Syarief Hasan revealed that the meeting would take place at Yudhoyono's residence in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java, and that it was possible they would form a coalition to contest the presidential election in 2019.

“[A coalition] could be established. It could happen as we have similarities in vision,” the former cooperatives, small and medium enterprises minister under Yudhoyono said as quoted by tribunnews.com

Earlier, the Democrats and Gerindra, along with the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), lost a crucial battle on the presidential threshold for the 2019 election.

Seeking a zero threshold, they were outnumbered by the six political factions that supported retaining the threshold at 20 seats or 25 percent – meaning that only political parties that garner 20 percent of legislative seats or 25 percent of the popular vote are eligible to field a presidential candidate.