Measuring PAN Opportunities After Joining The Coalition, Will Electoral Increase Or Lose In 2024?
JAKARTA - The National Mandate Party (PAN) has officially joined the Joko Widodo - Ma'ruf Amin government coalition in the second National Working Meeting which was held at the PAN House, Warung Buncit, South Jakarta, Tuesday, August 31.
Deputy Chairperson of the National Mandate Party (PAN) DPP, Viva Yoga Mauladi, emphasized that the joining of PAN in the government coalition party had nothing to do with the electoral interests of the party. PAN cadres also agreed to become General Chairperson Zulkifli Hasan as a presidential candidate for 2024.
"The election of any party is determined by its performance and struggle in the field so that the people can feel the benefits and existence of the party," said Viva to VOI, Thursday, September 2.
Viva stated that the joining of PAN to the coalition of Jokowi's government parties was a form of service to the country.
"To bring goodness, to benefit the people, nation and state, so that national ideals can be realized," he said.
Moreover, Viva Yoga, said that the joining of PAN to the coalition was not final. The reason is, since the reformation period, the party chaired by Zulkifli Hasan has always supported the government.
"PAN joining the government is not a strange thing, because since 1999 from the reign of BJ Habibie then Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati to SBY and Jokowi as president of the first term, PAN has always been a government coalition political party," said Viva in a virtual discussion, Thursday, September 2.
The reason why PAN left the administration of President Jokowi in the first period was because it supported the Prabowo-Sandi candidate pair. Where both of them are now Jokowi's ministers. "Then the question is why when the Jokowi government left the coalition party, the answer is that before the 2019 election, PAN chose a different candidate pair from the coalition party. permission to leave the cabinet," said Viva.
Viva also denied that PAN betrayed Jokowi in the first period at that time. He also left the opposition parties that have been running together since the 2019 elections to choose to rejoin the government. "It's not about traitors, double or triple politics, not but solely because of maintaining political dignity so that democracy has quality. And now the National Mandate Party is joining forces with government coalition party," said Viva.
PAN Predicted to be 'Buried' in 2024
Political observer from Indonesia's Al Azhar University, Andriadi Achmad, warned that PAN would not make a mistake if the reason for joining the coalition was to increase votes in the 2024 General Election.
"Speaking of Power is very interesting. Power is like sugar in a swarm of ants. In general, the closeness of political parties to power can have both positive and negative impacts," Andriadi told VOI, Thursday, September 2.
According to him, if power is considered positive and successful by the community while leading and in power, it will also have a positive impact on political parties. That is in the form of increasing votes in elections.
On the other hand, Andriadi said, if power is considered negative and does not work while in power, it will have an impact on decreasing the electoral votes for the supporting political parties. The opposition becomes a political party supporting the government (coalition).
"If you make a mistake in making political decisions, don't increase votes in the election. Even the joining of PAN with the government coalition will actually have an impact on reducing votes in the 2024 election," Andriadi said.
The Executive Director of the Nusantara Institute PolCom SRC said that the question that needs to be asked is whether the government under Jokowi's leadership is considered successful or failed by the Indonesian people.
The reason is, the joining of PAN with the government coalition, in the hope that the "minister" political cake in the government is the same as during the first period of Jokowi 2014 - 2019.
"Where when PAN joined later in the government coalition, it got the position of PAN Minister RB Asman Abnur. Same with the current reality, when PAN will join the government coalition in the middle of the journey," he said. Meanwhile, he continued, Zulkifli Hasan hopes in the future by joining the government coalition will have a good impact and increase the electoral vote in the 2024 election.
"In my opinion, the joining of PAN with the government coalition in the future will have a bad impact on PAN. It could be the 2024 election, a grave for PAN," said Andriadi.
Because, Andriadi explained, after being left by the main group Amien Rais and the establishment of the Ummat Political Party, PAN was actually on the verge of not passing the Parliamantary Threshold (PT) with the current fractured condition.
"Moreover, recent surveys have shown that the reality is that PAN did not pass the 4 percent PT in the 2024 election," he said.