Choose own members as candidates, Indonesia's PDI-P tells other parties ahead of 2024 presidential election

JAKARTA: Head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Megawati Soekarnoputri on Tuesday (Jan 10) appeared to criticise other political parties that have backed politicians who are not their own cadres as a presidential candidate for the 2024 election.

Mdm Soekarnoputri made the remarks during her party’s 50th-anniversary celebration held at Jakarta’s International Expo convention complex.

“It's funny how people in politics now are, don’t imitate them,” she referred to parties which are backing a non-member as a potential candidate.

“Don't they have their own cadres?" said Mdm Soekarnoputri who was greeted with applause from members of PDI-P.

Indonesia’s next presidential election is only on Feb 14, 2024, but potential candidates will have to register with the election commission this October. 

A political party can only nominate a presidential candidate if it has at least 20 per cent of the total seats in parliament or obtained 25 per cent of votes in the previous legislative election. 

Ruling party PDIP is the only party which can nominate a presidential candidate without forming a coalition as it has 22.26 per cent of the seats in parliament.

But Mdm Soekarnoputri as the party head has yet to announce her preferred candidate.

Local media had earlier speculated that she would announce her preference during the anniversary. 

However, the former president remained tight-lipped on the party’s possible candidate throughout her speech. 

"I am the head who was elected at the party congress…the congress gave the elected general head the prerogative right to determine who to nominate,” she said, adding that it is her business to make the nomination. 

She said she will gather all the members again to consolidate on Jun 1, coinciding with the birth month of her father and the country’s founding leader, Soekarno.

PDI-P won the elections in 2014 and 2019 after being out of power for a decade.

In her speech, Mdm Soekarnoputri called on her party members to work hard to secure another win in the upcoming election. 

"We have won twice, don’t you want to win three times... Once again, are you ready to win a third time?” 

Mdm Soekarnoputri was Indonesia’s fifth president, having ruled between 2001 to 2004. 

But her former minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, then head of his Democrat Party, defeated her in the 2004 presidential election. 

PDI-P then became the opposition party between 2004 to 2014. 

"My instructions are actually not difficult, do you want to be elected again or not?”, she said, noting that the only way to achieve this is by having party members going to the ground. 

So far, Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan have received the backing from political parties to run in the upcoming presidential election.

The former is backed by his party Gerindra which has formed a coalition with Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) but Mr Baswedan does not belong to any political party. 

He is backed by Nasdem, the country’s fourth-largest political party, which still needs to form a formal coalition in order to nominate a presidential candidate.

Pollsters have ranked PDI-P member and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as a strong potential presidential candidate along with Mr Subianto and Mr Baswedan. 

Second biggest party Golkar has formed a coalition with Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN) and Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP) ahead of the election. 

While they have yet to announce their presidential candidate, they have stated that they are open to the idea of nominating someone from a different political party. 

President Joko Widodo, who is also a PDI-P member, will not be able to run again as the constitution only allows him to stay in power for two terms. His term will end in October 2024.

In his speech at the Tuesday anniversary celebration, Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, took the opportunity to share his wish for the next president. 

Speaking after Mdm Soekarnoputri, he said the next leader to succeed him should have the courage to continue his efforts to develop Indonesia’s downstream mineral industries. 

This includes appealing against court rulings which he described as not in favour of growing the country’s economy.

“I want the future president to have the courage to continue. Not to be easily discouraged, not to be afraid, for the sake of the nation, for the sake of the country,” said Jokowi. 

The president also said that he is happy that Mdm Soekarnoputri has hinted the party’s choice of candidate for the presidential election will come from its own cadres. 

Many believe Jokowi favours Mr Pranowo as the likely candidate for PDI-P as the latter is said to share a similar charismatic style of leadership as the president. 

Jokowi told his supporters in November that the next leader who is prepared to continue his legacy could be someone who has white hair.

Many interpreted this as an endorsement for the silver-haired Mr Pranowo.

However, there has also been wide speculation that Mdm Soekarnoputri herself favours the parliament speaker, who is also her own daughter, Puan Maharani, as PDI-P’s presidential candidate. 

Opinion polls so far have shown that the speaker’s electability is below 10 per cent, while that for Mr Pranowo has been consistently at above 30%. 

In an interview with local media last October, Mr Pranowo declared his readiness to run for the presidential race, a move which was believed to have drawn the ire of some PDI-P members. 

They saw the announcement as an act that overstepped Mdm Soekarnoputri’s authority as PDI-P’s top leader. 

The governor subsequently apologised for his comments.