Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Democratic Party's (PD) presidential convention seems to be going nowhere with a senior party member admitting the ruling party might not be able to field a candidate in the July presidential election.
EE Mangindaan, the executive chairman of the party's board of patrons, said his party would likely garner less than 25 percent of the vote in the April 9 legislative election, which was far below the electoral threshold to nominate a presidential candidate.
"Let's be realistic. If we only got 7 or 10 percent, how would we be able to nominate a presidential candidate?" Mangindaan, who is also transportation minister, said as quoted by Kompas.com.
The Election Law stipulates that a party must gain at least 25 percent of popular vote or control 20 percent of the seats at House of Representatives to be able to field a candidate.
Mangindaan said the party would have to form an alliance with other political parties to join the presidential election and it was possible that the winner of the party's presidential convention would end up being a vice presidential candidate.
That said, Mangindaan suggested that convention participants begin talks with other parties prior to the legislative election. "Just go ahead, you are free to approach other parties. Even if some of the participants want to be nominated by other parties, that would be OK."
Several of the convention's contenders were disappointed by his statement, and feared that it would discourage the participants and their supporters.
"He should not have expressed something so negative. A senior PD member like him should be injecting a more positive attitude," participant Ali Masykur Musa, who is also a member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), said.
The organizing committee for the convention has been languishing to keep the convention running since it was launched in August last year amid financial constraints. The committee recently admitted that it could not afford to air the presidential debates of the convention participants.
Convention participant Anies Baswedan questioned the purpose of holding the debates if they were not televised nationwide. "People vote after comparing candidates. How could they vote if they never see the candidates?"
The problem was made worse by the recent resignation of a key committee member, Effendi Ghazali, a political communication expert from the University of Indonesia.
Many believe that Effendi resigned due to unfair practices within the committee. Effendi is a non-partisan and well-known political communications expert.
Committee member, Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidi Marasabessy, however, claimed that the convention would remain on track despite Effendi's resignation.
"The ongoing progress of the convention has been largely handled by the survey institutes, instead of the committee. Committee members are now just monitoring the process and will eventually announce the result," Suaidi said on Wednesday.
Effendi announced on Monday he had resigned from the committee due to health reasons and denied the decision had anything to do with alleged unfair practices.
"I underwent tendon surgery on Feb. 5 after being tackled during a football game and will need three to six months to recover. That is why I resigned," Effendi said.
As many as 11 public figures have participated in the convention. The decision on the party's eventual presidential candidate will be in the hands of three independent survey institutes hired by the PD and is due to be announced soon after the April 9 legislative election.