People’s Synergy for Democracy in Indonesia (Sigma) director Said Salahudin says the absence of the Democratic Party from the presidential race does not mean that it will automatically take a place among the opposition.
“It is still possible that the winning presidential ticket will invite the Democratic Party to join the new government because it has 61 seats in the House of Representatives,” said Said in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The political expert said it was no longer possible for the Democratic Party to take part in the upcoming presidential election unless it joined with the coalition led by the Gerindra Party.
“This is the only chance for the Democrats if they want to be one of the political parties nominating presidential and vice presidential candidates in the upcoming election. However, they can take the chance only if they express their support for Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa before they register their candidacy at the General Elections Commission [KPU],” said Said.
It was reported earlier that Prabowo-Hatta had registered their candidacy at the commission today while the other presidential hopeful, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, registered their candidacy on Monday.
Said said this would be a new era in Indonesian politics because since direct presidential elections first took place in 2004, there had never been a political party, securing seats at the House of Representatives, which had failed to nominate a presidential and vice presidential candidate.
“I think it’s a failure of political strategy by [President] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He took too many things into consideration in building a coalition and as a consequence, he himself has now missed the boat,” said Said.
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/20/chance-still-open-dems-joi...
