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Candidates switch parties as legislative election draws near

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Jakarta Post - January 16, 2019

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The 2019 presidential race appears to have overshadowed the legislative election in the past few months, leaving in the shade the battle among political parties to win seats in the House of Representatives.

As parties struggle to pass the higher electoral threshold, dozens of lawmakers have switched their political vehicles while seeking another term at the House, moving to a party with a greater chance of passing the threshold in a bid to secure their own re-election.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that at least 31 out of hundreds of incumbent lawmakers had switched parties to contest the 2019 election, with NasDem being the popular party of choice for politicians who have lost faith in their old parties.

According to the think tank, 20 politicians from six different parties at the House had joined NasDem, CSIS political analyst Arya Fernandes said. He pointed out that it was an indicator that NasDem had been successful in luring politicians to join them in the upcoming election.

Sixteen of the 20 politicians and legislative candidates who switched sides to NasDem are running for the same constituencies in which they had won in the 2014 legislative election.

"The candidates' main interest is to secure their re-election and as incumbent legislators, they have already secured their constituencies," Arya said on Tuesday, "At the same time, NasDem wants to win more seats from different constituencies."

Though the party is currently the second-smallest among 10 political parties at the House with 35 seats, NasDem secured many victories in the simultaneous regional elections last year, with 10 gubernatorial candidate pairs backed by the party winning in 10 out of 17 provinces participating in the election.

Among the best-known lawmakers who switched to NasDem include model-turned-politician Okky Asokawati, who was previously with the United Development Party (PPP), former actor Krisna Mukti, who previously ran with the National Awakening Party (PKB) and former Hanura politician Dadang Rusdiana.

Arya pointed out NasDem's proactive headhunting as one reason why many politicians agreed to join the party in the upcoming election.

"At the same time, most of the politicians [joined NasDem] because their parties were shaken by internal rifts."

Of 11 other incumbent legislators who switched parties, three joined the PKB, three went to the National Mandate Party (PAN), two joined the Golkar Party while the rest jumped ship to the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Gerindra Party and the Berkarya Party, according to CSIS data.

Hanura, the smallest party by far with only 16 seats in the House, lost the most with seven lawmakers leaving, six of whom are joining NasDem.

The Hanura Party saw internal conflict divide its top leadership following a rift between its chairman, businessman-turned-politician Oesman Sapta Odang, and the splinter faction led by Sarifuddin Sudding, who was Hanura's secretary-general at the time.

Sudding has left Hanura and joined PAN, which is part of the opposition coalition backing presidential contender and Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto. Hanura has been supporting the candidacy of incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo since the 2014 election.

In the past, the PPP also suffered from an internal rift, with the camp of Djan Faridz challenging the leadership of current chairman M. Romahurmuzy.

Other than internal rifts, another motive for switching parties might be "differences in ideology," Arya said.

Sixteen national parties that will stand in the 2019 legislative election are expecting a tight race, especially after the minimum electoral threshold for the 2019 election was raised to 4 percent of the national vote from 3.5 percent in 2014.

A survey by Kompas Research and Development in October concluded that based on their electability ratings, which are still below 4 percent, five out of the 10 older parties – Hanura, NasDem, the PKS, the PPP and PAN – will struggle to win House seats. Hanura had the lowest rating at only 1 percent.

NasDem secretary-general Johnny G. Plate said he was confident the party could win seats in the legislative body, saying polls did not accurately capture the reality because they did not include surveys on the electability of each legislative candidate.

In the 2014 election, surveys put NasDem's electability at 1.5 percent, Johnny said, but the party managed to secure 6.7 percent of the vote, thanks to votes gained by the legislative candidates. "Our biggest strength is the power of legislative candidates in each electorate district," he said.

NasDem was confident that the incumbent legislators who switched to NasDem could also contribute to the party's overall gain this time around, Johnny said. "They already have a strong electorate basis and potential, so what we must do is boost their electability through political canvassing."

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/01/16/candidates-switch-parties-as-legislative-election-draws-near.html

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