Joko’s keen to see at least two more parties to join his coalition

Posted on September 23, 2014 by sagarmedia

Standard

Joko Widodo is keen to see at least two more parties to join his coalition, expected to support his camp in the parliament.

Joko Widodo, the winner of July 9 election who would be sworn- in as the nation’s seventh president, has said that chances of United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party (PAN ) to join his coalition of four party were imminent, adding that it may happen within this week. “There is no such a permanent coalition in politics. We have to talk about political reality,”Joko said over the weekend, adding that process towards the joining of those parties has reached 80 percent.

The possible joining of PAN and PPP in Joko’s camp was apparently seen in the presence of two of those parties’senior executives in the recent national congress of PDI-P held in Central Java’s capital city of Semarang.

PAN and PPP were currently part of coalition supporting defeated president candidate Prabowo Subianto. The two parties secured 49 and 39 seats, respectively, in the parliament, resulted from April 9 legislative election. “Since the beginning, we already conveyed that we are open. Developing our great nation cannot be conducted by merely four political parties,”Joko said, referring the existing political parties joining his coalition that consisted of Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), National Democrat (Nasdem), Nation Awakening Party (PKB) and People’s Conscience (Hanura) Party.

Altogether Joko Widodo’s coalition in the parliament occupies 207 seats from a total of 560 or less than 51 percent of legislators’votes to secure Joko’s programs to run his government.

Should PAN and PPP join the president-elect camp, government will affirmatively secure support from the parliament as it would have a total of 295 votes in the parliament. On the other hand, it would be a tragic loss for Prabowo’s camp as it would no longer dominate the parliament.

The ruling Democrat party, which initially support Prabowo’s camp has stated that it would be “the balancer” instead of abiding by policies set by Prabowo in the coalition. The party chaired by outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono secured 61 seats in the parliament.

Analysts estimated that there will be harsh politics carried out by the two camps ensued from the president election process. No signs of reconciliation have been shown between Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto despite the calls from several parties to do so for the sake of the nation.