Demokrat Joins Forces With Prabowo

Jakarta, Indonesia - On September the 21st 2023, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), Chairman of Partai Demokrat, formally announced his support for Candidate Prabowo Subianto in a ceremony attended by the members of the coalition of parties supporting Prabowo Subianto as their Candidate, the Onward Indonesia Coalition.

“21 September 2023, @PDemokrat officially and openly declared Mr. @prabowo, as our Presidential Candidate for the Republic of Indonesia in the 2024 general elections. God Willing, with the spirit of continuity and change, we can make Indonesia go more Onwards” (22/09/23) Posted AHY on his X (Formerly known as Twitter) handle @AgusYudhoyono.

In his declaration of support, AHY conveyed his hopes for Candidate Prabowo Subianto should he secure the presidency - namely to continue successful policies enacted by past Indonesian governments since our independence day and to enact change by improving imperfections in Indonesia’s current policies.

This announcement comes after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), announced his intention to get involved in the 2024 election to secure Prabowo’s victory. Therefore, it did not come as much of a surprise as Demokrat has been making gestures indicating its support for Prabowo for quite some time before the official declaration.

This official declaration of support adds Demokrat to Prabowo’s Onward Indonesia Coalition, with the Coalition being composed of the DPR represented political parties of Gerindra, Partai Golkar, Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN), and now Partai Demokrat.

With this decision, should Prabowo secure the presidency, Demokrat would most likely attain representation in Prabowo’s future cabinet of ministers, which would be the first time the party has been represented in the cabinet since the end of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s term in 2014.

Beyond that, Demokrat could use its newfound voice in the Onward Indonesia Coalition to continue its support for AHY as Vice President, which would open up another prospective VP for Prabowo in the already crowded field of those seeking the position.

However, this might be implausible due to PAN’s insistence of Erick Thohir being selected as Prabowo’s running mate and considering the fact that Demokrat showed up fairly late in the game of joining Prabowo’s coalition.

This declaration of support and other political decisions that has been occurring in this short period of a few weeks may prove to give the pressure necessary to the parties within Ganjar’s coalition to move fast, and could have contributed to PDIP Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto’s recent announcement that Ganjar’s Vice Presidential Candidate has already been decided.

These developments prove to all the coalitions that securing the headlines would be beneficial to boosting the support of their presidential candidates.