Down 6 Seats In The 2024 East Java Election, PDIP Needs New Strength Against Khofifah-Emil Dardak In The Pilkada

Illustration of the 2024 Pilkada. BETWEEN/Febrian Alfandi

A political observer from Universitas Brawijaya Malang, Wawan Sobari, stated that the emergence of the name Tri Rismaharini-Azwar Anas, which was predicted to be paired in the East Java Regional Head Election (Pilkada), still could not compete with the pair Khofifah Indar Parawansa-Emil Dardak. The biggest factor that became the obstacle of Risma-Azwar was the number of PDI-P seats based on the results of the 2024 East Java Provincial DPRD Member Election. "It is impossible for the PDI-P to run without a coalition with other parties, then those who are fought are incumbents and strong parties have form a coalition," said Wawan in Malang, East Java, Antara, Sunday, August 4. Khofifah-Emil has pocketed recommendations from a number of parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties, namely Gerindra, Golkar Party, PKS, Democrats, PAN, PPP, PSI, and Perindo. In the 2024 General Election, February 14, the PDI-P won 3,735,865 votes with 21 of the 120 seats in the East Java Provincial DPRD. The number of party seats with white-nosed bull logos in the East Java Provincial DPRD fell by 6 seats from the 2019 Election. The PDI-P cannot carry its own candidate in the 2024 East Java Pilkada contestation because the number of seats does not meet the minimum 20 percent requirement. This refers to Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Second Amendment to Law Number 1 of 2015 concerning Government Regulations in Lieu of Law Number 1 of 2014 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors into Laws. Article 40 of the Law explains that political parties or joint political parties can register candidate pairs if they meet the requirements for obtaining at least 20 percent of the total DPRD seats, or 25 percent of the accumulated valid votes in the general election of DPRD members in the regions concerned. Wawan stated that the PDI-P must form a coalition with other parties, one of which is the National Awakening Party (PKB) which won the 2024 East Java Provincial DPRD Member Election.

PKB received an increase in two seats to 27 seats with 4,517,228 votes. According to him, the current condition must be addressed realisticly by the PDI-P by choosing one of the candidates between Risma or Azwar Anas as a candidate, then providing space for PKB to present names in the East Java Pilkada. "There must be a possible coalition. However, it is complicated because of the strong figure from PKB in East Java? Yesterday the name KH Marzuki Mustamar appeared, but his electability was still below 5 percent," he said.