Jakarta. A number of political parties have expressed interest in joining the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, to help Ganjar Pranowo win the 2024 presidential election, an executive with the ruling party said on Monday.

The People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) is the first to publicly announce support for Ganjar. Although Hanura currently has no seats in the House of Representatives, the PDI-P needs all the support it can get because the presidential election is won by popular vote.

“In the coming weeks, there will be another declaration of support for PDI-P’s presidential nominee Ganjar from another political party," PDI-P Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto told reporters in Jakarta.

Hasto said offers for collaboration with the PDI-P have been intensifying since Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri announced Ganjar’s candidacy on Friday.

"The PDI-P provides room for other parties to communicate with us and then declare [Ganjar] as their candidate too,” Hasto said, citing Hanura as an example.

PDI-P is currently the only party with enough seats in the House to nominate a candidate without a coalition.

The current House seat distribution means that there can be up to four candidates for the president. The law requires a party or a coalition of parties to have 20 percent or more of House seats to nominate a candidate.

There will be major political maneuvers in the next five months because political parties have until October to formally register their candidate with the General Election Commission.

Apart from Ganjar, former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan is the only candidate who has received official support from a party.

But the National Democratic Party, or Nasdem, needs to build a coalition with at least two parties to get Anies on the ballot.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto is the third possible candidate after his Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) formed a coalition with the National Awakening Party (PKB). 

Despite his back-to-back losses in the last elections, Prabowo remains a strong candidate and came second only to Ganjar in recent polls.

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