September 22, 2023
JAKARTA – Puan Maharani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) central executive board said on Thursday that it was “a possibility” for presumptive nominee Ganjar Pranowo to be paired with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto for next year’s presidential election.
Puan said this scenario would be especially possible if the political situation showed that a Ganjar-Prabowo pairing would deliver the best outcome for the country.
“The current political dynamics allows us to meet [continuously] to make deals on what we believe is best for the nation,” she told reporters after a House of Representatives plenary meeting.
Puan, the daughter of PDI-P matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri, also pointed out that the party still had another month to decide whether to strike a deal with Gerindra for a Ganjar-Prabowo pairing.
She added that it was also likely that Megawati would meet with Prabowo in the coming weeks.
“I myself have met with Pak [Mr.] Prabowo,” Puan said, as quoted by Antara News.
After the General Election Commission (KPU) and the House agreed to move forward the candidate registration deadline for the presidential election, the electoral alliances backing Ganjar and Prabowo’s bids have found fresh urgency to pick their candidates’ running mates.
Many politicians in the two rival camps have instead proposed that they merge to present a stronger ticket to face off against opposition front-runner Anies Baswedan and his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, touted by the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party and the Prosperous Justice Party.