PAN Considers Carrying Airlangga Hartarto-Zulhas Pair In The 2024 Presidential Election

Golkar Chairman Airlangga Hartanto and PAN Chairman Zulkifli Hasan in a KIB meeting in Jakarta (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The National Mandate Party (PAN) considers the possibility to carry the pair Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan as Presidential Candidates and Vice Presidential Candidates in the 2024 presidential election. This was revealed after PAN finished holding an internal meeting, at the PAN DPP Office, Warung Buncit, South Jakarta, Tuesday evening, May 23. Deputy Chairperson of the PAN DPP, Yandri Susanto, when giving a press statement showing the possibility of a change of plans in the political map PAN. He stated that the results of the meeting would be reported to the General Chairperson of PAN, Zulkifli Hasan to determine the candidates to be carried by the party. Yundri Susanto also mentioned several candidate options that are being considered, including Ganjar Pranowo, Prabowo Subianto, as well as the pair Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan. "There were also many participants in the meeting earlier, even if what was proposed was the ketum, everyone agreed earlier, the chairman was promoted as vice presidential candidate," said Yandri. So far together with the Golkar Party and The United Development Party (PPP), PAN has declared cooperation with the name of the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB). The coalition is a collaboration ahead of the 2024 General Election. Although PPP has supported Ganjar Pranowo as a presidential candidate, Golkar and PAN have never declared KIB disbanded. Although there has been no official decision from PAN, it is possible that the Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan pairs who will be promoted by PAN and Golkar have attracted the attention of many circles. Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan are two political figures who have a significant track record in the world of Indonesian politics. Airlangga apart from leading Golkar is also the Coordinating Minister for the Economy who succeeded in lifting Indonesia's economic growth in difficult times like during the last pandemic. Meanwhile, Zulkifli, besides currently leading PAN, is also a Minister of Trade and has served as Minister of Forestry for the 2009-2014 period. Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan's track record shows their experience and dedication in the fields of government and politics. If paired as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2024 presidential election, both will bring extensive experience and understanding of political, economic and social issues in Indonesia. In this case, an elite DPP PAN who does not want to be named stated that support for the General Chair of his party is very reasonable, considering that PAN has 44 seats or 7.65 percent of the total number of seats in parliament. Meanwhile, the Golkar Party currently has 85 seats in the DPR RI or 14.78 percent. The combined number of seats for these two political parties is 129 seats or 22.43 percent of the total number of seats in parliament.

Referring to Article 222 of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, Candidate Pairs are proposed by the Political Party or the Association of Election Contesting Political Parties which meet the requirements for obtaining seats of at least 20% (twenty percent) of the number of seats in the DPR or obtaining 25% (twenty five percent) of valid votes nationally in the previous DPR election. Therefore, these two political parties can propose their own presidential and vice presidential pairs, because they have met the requirements such as the article. The PAN administrators and cadres are expected to prefer their General Chair as Vice President Candidates rather than other parties.