Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan has been facing a hard time to pick his running mate. The political parties that support his candidacy have not agreed on his vice presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
Ardy Mbalembout, Chairman of Law and Human Rights at the Democratic Party – which supported Anies – said the party still committed to establish a coalition with the Nasdem Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). However, he acknowledged there was a difference among the three parties on Anies’ vice presidential candidate.
“The Democratic Party insists to nominate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) as a vice presidential candidate. However, I don’t know the candidates nominated by [Nasdem Party Chairman] Surya Paloh and the PKS,” he explained.
Nasdem is first party to declare presidential candidate
Nasdem is the first political party which publicly and officially declared its support for the former Jakarta governor as a presidential candidate in the 2024 General Election on October 3, 2022. Following the declaration, Nasdem had talks with opposition parties of the Democratic Party and the PKS to build a coalition.
Mbalembout said the Democratic Party hoped Nasdem and the PKS would support AHY’s vice presidential candidacy. In various survey on electability by pollsters, AHY ranks 3rd as the VP candidate. “We’ll joint forces to win. Nasdem and the PKS will see the opportunity to win the election in [Anies and] AHY,” he told Indonesia Business Post on January 9, 2023.
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Political analyst at the Pelita Harapan University, Emrus Sihombing, said it would be difficult for Anies to pick up a vice presidential candidate since he was not a decision maker in a political party. At the same time, Nasdem is not the top tier party among parties that support him.
“Nasdem has not enough seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) to nominate a presidential candidate. The party has to establish a coalition with at least two other parties. The other parties which are willing to build a coalition with Nasdem will ask for what they will get in return and who will finance the campaign,” he said.
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Sihombing explained that Anies was not a presidential candidate supported by the grassroots. It means not all Indonesians want Anies to be a president. “Anies is supported by the elite of the central executive board of Nasdem. It is a top-down approach when Nasdem supported Anies, instead of a bottom-up approach,” he said.
It will be difficult for Anies to secure a running mate unless he is willing to be a vice presidential candidate for a presidential candidate from big political parties. For example, if Anies teamed up with presidential candidates like Gerindra Party Chairman Prabowo Subianto, Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto or another presidential candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).
“It is possible… under one condition that Anies is willing to donate the campaign cost,” Sihombing said.
Providing political cost
The campaign cost for presidential election is quite expensive and can reach trillions of rupiah. Sihombing said it would be better if a candidate could finance their own campaign rather than being financed by interest groups or businessmen. “There is no free lunch in politics,” he added.
If candidates have political debt from businessmen or interest groups, they will have to pay back the debt in the form of policy and ministerial positions.
Read also: Anies Baswedan’s presidential candidacy is in disarray
Previously, Hasan Nasbi, a political analyst from Cyrus Network, said it would be very difficult for parties that support Anies to establish a coalition and consequently secure presidential candidate ticket for him.
“Anies does not only need to secure supports from one party. He still has a long journey,” he told the Post on December 1, 2022.
Nasbi, a supporter of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, said there were procedural errors in the coalition building to support Anies. The three parties – Nasdem, PKS and Democratic Party – should have first discussed the foundation of the coalition like common ground, program and power sharing before talking about the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
