Markus Junianto Sihaloho – After declaring an alliance with the Ulema National Awakening Party, the United Development Party said it was now seeking to establish a broader coalition of Islam-based political parties.

"The PPP continues to build intensive communications with several Islam-based political parties," the party's secretary general, Romahurmuzy, said in Jakarta on Monday, referring to the party by its acronym.

"This includes the PPP encouraging the establishment of a coalition with medium-sized parties, which happen to be dominated by Islam-based parties."

He explained that the party had so far held four meetings, with the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

Regarding the alliance with the Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU), Romahurmuzy said the two parties would work together to recruit candidates for elections in 2014, but that the PKNU would remain a separate party.

"The PKNU will still exist as a political party because there will still be 143 more regional elections to be held before 2014. The PKNU still needs to exist. The alliance is just on the individual level," Romahurmuzy explained.

He said the united front would boost votes for the PPP. In exchange, the party has agreed to select some PKNU members to run as PPP legislative candidates. However the coalition will not be permanent, he said.

The PKNU is a breakaway party of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which was founded by the late Abdurrahman Wahid, a former president and ex-leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.

Several Islam-based parties failed to qualify for next year's election, and the PPP alliance with the PKNU appears to be the party's first move to absorb some of those parties ahead of 2014.

The PPP is also mulling a coalition with the Crescent Star Party (PBB), another Islamic-based party that last secured a parliamentary seat in 2004 and failed to qualify for the next election.

The announcement comes amid a decline in the popularity of Islamic-based parties in recent surveys.

Most notably, the country's largest Islamic-based party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), has faced a fall in popularity since its former chairman was embroiled in a corruption scandal.

The PPP has faced its own problems. Last month Maiyasyak Johan, a prominent party legislator, resigned from the party to join the National Democratic Party (NasDem).

However Maiyasyak has since reconsidered his decision to join NasDem, saying he now feels he will be better off joining Golkar instead.

"I was just testing the waters. But now I want to choose a party with a strong political culture," Maiyasyak said in response to accusations that he was an opportunist.