Andreas D. Arditya – Two groups – one representing a coalition of nationalist political parties, the other comprised of Muslim parties – are discussing the formation of a larger coalition ahead of the gubernatorial election in July.
Representatives of the nationalist group, Panitia Bersama (Panbers), sat down on Friday afternoon with counterparts from Silaturahmi Partai Politik (Silat), the group of Muslim-based parties.
Panbers, short for "Joint Committee", consists of representatives of the Golkar Party with seven seats on the Jakarta City Council, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) with 6 seats and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), each with four seats.
Silat, short for "Friendly Meeting Party", consists of representatives of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with 18 seats on the council, the United Development Party (PPP) with 7 seats, the National Mandate Party (PAN) with 4 seats, the National Awakening Party (PKB) with one seat and three other parties without council seats.
Gerindra Jakarta branch chairman Muhammad Taufik said that the meeting was the first of several scheduled for coming weeks. "What we're doing today is just taking the initial steps toward more substantial talks between the parties," Taufik said.
The main goal of the planned coalition, according to Taufik, was to support a single candidate in the gubernatorial race. "We will eventually talk about that, but first we need to make sure that we have a win-win agreement between us," Taufik said.
Selamat Nurdin, the PKS's Jakarta chairman, said that plans for the coalition were initiated locally. "Our respective central boards did not order us to join forces. In fact, we want to show them that regional politicians know what's best for Jakarta," Selamat said.
Meanwhile, Lulung Lunggana, the PPP's local branch chairman, said that the planned coalition was not responding to the threat posed by independent candidates, which he described as unimportant. "We will have a total of 51 council seats between us. The independent candidates have nothing on us," Lulung said.
Candidate registration for people nominated by political parties will be run from March 13 to 19. Party-based applicants must have the support of political parties that garnered more than 15 percent of the vote in 2009 legislative election or that had more than 15 seats on the council.
Those registering as independent candidates face different requirements. Independent aspirants must gather the signatures and copies of the ID cards of 4 percent of Jakarta's population, or 407,340 people, to register as candidates.
The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) is currently verifying a list of 1 million names on the applications submitted by two independent campaigns: economist Faisal Basri and entrepreneur Biem Benjamin and Maj. Gen. (ret.) Hendardji Soepandji and politician Ahmad Riza Patria.
Separately, Jakarta's Supervisory Elections Committee (Panwaslu) chairman Ramdansyah said that the committee had received reports of fraud and other violations allegedly perpetrated by the would-be independent campaigns in garnering support. "I am calling on the public to file reports to the Panwaslu," he said.
KPUD has set the date for this year's gubernatorial elections, the capital's second direct election, for July 11. Unlike other regions, the capital city requires candidates to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to win.