PPP Supports Prabowo as Candidate for Indonesian Presidency
Prabowo Subianto, chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), has the backing of the United Development Party (PPP) as candidate for the presidential race. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)
[Updated at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 18, 2014]
Jakarta. The United Development Party, which was successful in quelling attempts to oust its chairman, announced on Friday its support for Prabowo Subianto, head of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, as candidate for the presidency.
"The PPP sees Prabowo as the right person to lead Indonesia for the better," Suryadharma Ali, the chairman of the Islam-based party told a news conference at the PPP headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta as quoted by Detik.com.
Suryadharma said that the PPP has not set any terms for backing Prabowo, including pushing one of its own party members to run as Prabowo's running mate.
"For the PPP [Prabowo's candidacy] will lead Indonesia to be more blessed [by God]. The aforementioned support is without any condition," Suryadharma continued.
A coalition with the PPP will allow Prabowo to add 6.7 percent of the vote to the 11.8 percent expected from his party, also known as Gerindra. But the election mandates that a presidential candidate be backed by 25 percent of the vote at the legislative election or 20 percent of seats at the legislature. This means Gerindra would have to get at least another political party on board to qualify for the presidential race.
Prabowo, who also attended the announcement, said a partnership with the PPP will lead more parties to rally behind him. "It is possible that our coalition will continue to grow," he said, as quoted by Detik.com, but he refused to identify which party for support.
Prabowo also praised the PPP for not setting any terms for its support. "I think this is a positive step in our democracy where [politicians] show their commitment only for the good of the country and nation," he said.
The announcement came a day after Suryadharma sacked six PPP officials for attempting to oust him from the party, including a deputy, Suharso Monoarfa.
Suharso has been calling for the party's central leadership board to remove Suryadharma from office over his appearance at a Gerindra rally in Jakarta last month. Suharso argued that the appearance cost the PPP votes in the April 9 legislative election.
But the plan backfired. On Thursday, Suryadharma dismissed Suharso and five PPP provincial leadership board chairmen.
"PPP was peaceful, but all of the sudden there was a turmoil. It is my duty as chairman to restore order [to the PPP]," Suryadharma said on Thursday. "If anyone disagree [with Suharso's dismissal] they can resign [from the party] too. If anyone disagrees with the chairman, they can step down."
Siti Zuhro, a political expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that even though the Gerindra has the backing of the PPP, as an organization at the local levels it is a different story.
"[Suryadharma's] appearance at the Gerindra rally really hurt a lot of PPP supporters at the provincial and district levels. It is a signal that their own chairman has abandoned the fight to win the election and side with Gerindra," she said in an interview with BeritaSatu TV.
The dismissal of several party officials for criticizing Suryadharma could aggravate the internal split within the PPP and potentially cause disgruntled PPP officials and supporters to back other presidential candidates.
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
to Subscribe via email :
batavia-news-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------
VISIT Batavia News Blog
http://batavia-news-networks.blogspot.com/
----------------------------
You could be Earning Instant Cash Deposits
in the Next 30 Minutes
No harm to try - Please Click
http://tinyurl.com/bimagroup
--------------
No comments:
Post a Comment