Political Party Coalition Is Just An Alternative Waiting For PDI-P's Political Position In The 2024 Presidential Election

SURABAYA - Coalition of political parties has begun to appear in the registration of candidates for the 2024 General Election. There is the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) with 3 political parties Golkar, PAN, and PPP.

There is also a 'coalition' of Gerindra and PKB. These two early 'coalitions' both emphasized that political relations between political parties were strengthened while continuing to consolidate in the face of the 2024 and 2024 presidential elections.

Regarding this matter, the political observer from Trunojoyo University Madura, Surokim Abdussalam, views the coalition of a number of political parties that have been established as only an alternative while waiting for the PDI-P's official stance for the 2024 Presidential Election.

"There is the United Indonesia Coalition, there is also the Gerindra-PKB coalition. I see that it is still an alternative coalition to guard against PDIP's stance," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 11.

According to him, PDIP as the only political party that meets the presidential nomination threshold has more value than others, so it is very careful to determine coalition or not.

"So, the attitude of PDIP and Jokowi is actually the key to the coalition that will be formed. However, the attitude of the PDIP and Jokowi, which until now has not been clear, has made them form a coalition," he said.

As the results of the 2019 General Election, PDIP is the only political party that can nominate its own presidential candidate without a coalition because it meets the 20 percent presidential threshold (PT).

In Senayan, PDIP has 128 seats or around 22 percent, whereas to nominate a president, it must have at least 115 seats or 20 percent.

Therefore, said Surokim, parties other than PDIP must have precise moves so as not to be left behind in the 2024 Presidential Election by not having to wait to be invited by PDIP to form a coalition.

"Remember, currently all coalition and pro-government parties are in coalition. Golkar, PAN, PPP, Gerindra and PKB all support Jokowi in government," he said.

"I'm sure they are still waiting to be invited, but that can't be the case and the party must have more bargaining power in their attitude," added the senior researcher at the Surabaya Survey Center (SSC).

Meanwhile, seeing the registration of the coalition parties to the KPU at the same time as a number of political parties, Surokim considered that this step was part of a signal to the public that they would unite until the elections in the next two years.

"They gave a signal, but in my opinion it was thin. They still send a symbolic message to the community that they will be together," said the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at UTM.

On Monday (8/8), Gerindra and PKB compactly registered jointly as candidates for the 2024 General Election to the Indonesian KPU.

Next, on Wednesday (10/8), three parties that are members of the United Indonesia Coalition, namely Golkar, PAN and PPP together visited the KPU office.