The Red Ant Coalition Will Not Be Strong Even If The Democrats Join, Observer: Who Is The Leader?

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash

JAKARTA - Cyrus Network researcher Hasan Hasbi assessed that the Red Ant coalition formed by PKB and PKS was not strong enough to create a new axis in the 2024 General Election.

Hasan assessed that PKB and PKS could not yet become the backbone parties of the coalition. In a sense, the party that is able to become the leader of the coalition.

Although currently PKB and PKS have opened the door for a number of parties to join, one of which is the Democrats, in order to meet the threshold for presidential nominations, this backbone requirement has not been fulfilled to be able to carry presidential and vice presidential candidates.

"In terms of seats, maybe PKB is bigger. But in terms of leadership, Pak SBY is much stronger in leadership. Unfortunately, Democrats only have 54 seats (in parliament). PKS is indeed the most solid party, but they also only have 50 seats," said Hasan to reporters, Monday, June 20.

"It is difficult to determine who will be the leader in this coalition. Because the coalition must have a backbone. You can't just meet and make a coalition. I don't believe PKB, PKS, and Democrats can do that," he continued.

Therefore, if PKB and PKS are determined to form a coalition, according to Hasan, they must be able to lobby major parties to join. Gerindra and PDIP are parties that have the potential to become the backbone of the coalition.

This is because Gerindra has 78 seats in parliament and its general chairman, Prabowo Subianto, dominates several presidential candidate surveys. For PDIP, this party is the winner of the 2019 Pilleg.

"If PKB-PKS meets Gerindra, it is very possible that the backbone is Gerindra. Then, if PDIP meets with any party, the backbone is definitely PDIP," said Hasan.

The Red Ants Coalition was first revealed by uploading a poster on the Instagram account of the Deputy Chairperson of the PKB, Jazilul Fawaid. This poster features the faces of General Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar (Cak Imin) and the Governor of DKI Jakarta Anies Baswedan.

There is a photo of Cak Imin and Anies side by side complete with the PKB and PKS logos in the corner. "United for the people. Candidates for president and vice president in 2024. Coalition of Red Ants," reads the text embedded in the center of the poster.

PKB claimed to be waiting for the Democratic Party, NasDem, and Gerindra to join the Red Ant Coalition. If all three enter, PKB said the coalition that was initiated with PKS would be patented turning into the Red Dragon Coalition.