Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – On the eve of the deadline for candidates to register for the July 8 presidential election, certainty finally came that the upcoming poll will see three pairs vying for the nation's top jobs.
Capping days of doubts about the future of a coalition built around President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, the incumbent declared on Friday his intention to run for reelection with central bank Governor Boediono.
Yudhoyono's choice of Boediono had been staunchly opposed by three key coalition partners – the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) – who argued that the vice presidential candidate should have come from one of their Muslim parties and threatened to withdraw their support. They have since dropped their objections.
The last pair to officially join the race was former President Megawati Sukarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who announced her candidacy with the ambitious chairman of the fledgling Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, as her vice presidential candidate at her residence in Central Jakarta about one hour before midnight.
PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said that the two would register with the General Elections Commission (KPU) at noon today.
The two had initially planned to announce their candidacy after Friday prayers, then delayed it to 5 p.m., before it was further postponed until an undetermined time after negotiations between the two camps appeared to have hit more snags.
Prabowo had repeatedly said that he was aiming for the presidency, while PDI-P executives insisted that the party was not looking for a presidential candidate to replace Megawati, but for a vice presidential candidate to run with her.
A PDI-P source said that news of senior PKS leaders finally ironing out their differences with Yudhoyono had prompted the renewed negotiations with Prabowo late on Friday, finally leading them to seal the deal.
Megawati earlier on Friday held a 20-minute closed-door meeting with Prabowo and several other Gerindra executives at the Batu Tulis Palace in nearby Bogor, and the talks resumed late in the evening after PKS heavyweight Hilmi Aminuddin and chairman Tifatul Sembiring were reported to have thrown their weight behind the Democrats.
Yudhoyono's current vice president, Jusuf Kalla, who is also Golkar Party chairman, was the first to announce his presidential bid, running with the chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), retired Gen. Wiranto, as his vice presidential candidate.
When declaring his candidacy alongside Boediono in Bandung, West Java, on Friday evening, Yudhoyono outlined his reasons for picking the Bank Indonesia governor.
"I know him as an honest, modest Muslim. He is a technocrat, a hard-working and responsible economist," Yudhoyono said, adding that Boediono also came without political baggage or a hidden business agenda.
"He is the right man for the job and will be able to run a clean, responsive, corruption-free government for the next five years and get Indonesia out of the global recession. To all Indonesians, we both really expect your prayers, blessing and support."
In his own remarks, Boediono said that he was conscious that his appointment would spark controversy, especially among other political parties, "but that is a sure sign of democracy."
He asked those parties that had given Yudhoyono their support to now support him as well.
"I accepted this vice presidential candidacy because I know that the SBY administration has been working hard to build a clean government without corruption," he said.
During the declaration, representatives from 23 supporting parties also pledged to support the pair.