Jakarta. Former military head Wiranto’s People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) said it would back Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) candidate Joko Widodo in the July 9 presidential election, putting an end to rumors of a coalitionwith the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra.
“As the one who holds Hanura’s mandate, I have decided that it is impossible to forget and dismiss [the PDI-P's] similar vision and views over the past five years,” Wiranto said on Saturday. “Therefore, it’s good to continue the cooperation and strengthen it to face the political tasks ahead.”
Gerindra, Hanura and the PDI-P were all opposition parties under Democratic president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose term is coming to end.
“Our five years of cooperation resulted in a belief that we have similar political platforms,” Wiranto said.
The rumored coalition between Hanura and Gerindra would have signified an end to a longstanding rivalry between Wiranto and Gerindra candidate Prabowo Subianto dating back to the fall of strongman president Suharto 16 years ago, when the generals vied for power and influence as the old regime crumbled.
Both were accused of human rights abuses during that era.
Hanura won 5.26 percent of the vote in the April 9 legislative elections.
The National Awakening Party (PKB) and National Democratic Party (NasDem), the PDI-P’s other coalition partners, won 9.04 percent and 6.72 percent, respectively.
The PDI-P came in first at 18.95 percent.
Wiranto said the decision to join with the PDI-P came after extensive meetings with party chairwoman and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He said that Hanura did not join the coalition so that he could become vice president.
PDI-P central executive board chairwoman Puan Maharani PDI-P said that the addition of Hanura would be formalized as soon as it had been cleared with the other coalition partners.
“There’ll soon be declaration and official announcement from the PDI-P and Hanura which will be attended by all members of [our] coalition,” she said.
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hanura-backs-pdi-p-squashing-gerindr...