Mega looks to team up with Wiranto, Prabowo

The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Sun, 04/12/2009 10:57 AM | Election 2009

The chief patron of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Saturday the party was set to hold a coalition with two newcomers led by retired high ranking officers, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People’s Conscience (Hanura) Party.

“Coalition?Hanura [is] certain, Gerindra [is] certain,” Taufik Kiemas, chairman of PDI-P’s advisory board, said in reponse to journalists’ questions at his residence, as quoted by kompas.com.

When asked about the party’s coalition plan with the Golkar Party, he answered, “Let’s see later. The coalition is to be determined next Wednesday.”

Taufik said PDI-P would nominate its chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, his wife and former president, as its presidential candidate but had not yet decided on a vice-presidential candidate.

However Megawati, who met Gerindra’s leader Prabowo Subianto on Saturday, only said that a “duet” with the latter is “possible.”

Taufik said a PDI-P coordination meeting would determine the vice-presidential candidate, adding that Prabowo, a former leader of the army’s special forces, was one of the candidates. Megawati’s meeting with Prabowo followed an earlier one with Hanura leader Wiranto, a former military chief.

According to unofficial quick count surveys, PDI-P is coming second after the Democratic Party, with around 14 percent of votes from Thursday’s legislative election. Gerindra and Hanura are so far ranked eight and ninth with around 5 and 3 percent of votes, respectively.

Both the PDI-P and the Gerindra Party say they make take their mutual concerns over alleged election fraud to the Constitutional Court and officially challenge the poll results.

PDI-P Secretary General Pramono Anung Wibowo said the two parties believed the voter list was rigged to benefit “a certain party.”

So far the Democratic Party, formed by President Susilo Bam-bang Yudhoyono is leading in quick count tallies at around 20 percent of votes.

They may be the only party to meet the required minimum of 20 percent of minimum seats won at the House of Representatives, or 25 percent of national votes, to be able to nominate a president for the July election.

Many voters have claimed to have not been included on the voters’ list.

“The fraud ... has inflicted losses on other parties. We plan to raise this issue to the Constitutional Court if it remains unresolved,” Pramono said.

“This year’s election was even worse than the 2004 polls. We have received many complaints,” Megawati said. The party leaders said the alleged fraud should be thoroughly investigated.

Both Megawati and Prabowo extended their apology to voters who could not cast their ballots because they were not registered. (dre/naf)