REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The general chairman of the National Democrat (NasDem) party, Surya Paloh, said his party has agreed to merge with the Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP) and support PDIP's presidential candidate Joko Widodo.
"We have agreed to close ranks in preparation for supporting the PDIP's presidential candidate," Surya Paloh said at a press conference at the NasDem Party headquarters here on Saturday.
He added that Nasdem agreed to cooperate with PDIP because the two parties shared common views about the importance of realizing a true presidential system of government.
"Our talk was focused on understanding our vision and mission and the role that the two parties could play," he said.
Surya said he supported Joko Widodo, alias Jokowi, in his bid for the presidency and even referred to him as NasDem's presidential candidate.
"NasDem would fully support him with joy and a big heart. PDIP's presidential candidate is also NasDem's presidential candidate," he said.
Surya said that during the meeting they did not talk about distribution of ministerial posts or other posts, but only about how to uphold the concept of nationalism.
"There was no talk of distribution of ministerial posts or other posts. We focused more on how to uphold the presidential system of government," he said.
Surya said further talks would be held with Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is the general chairperson of PDIP, with regard to merging the vision and mission of the two parties.
"What is important now is that we support Jokowi's bid, while our vision and mission will be conveyed when we meet with Megawati Soekarnoputri," he said.
PDIP was the winner in the legislative elections on April 9, but its victory would not guarantee enough votes to assure Jokowi's candidacy.
Based on the quick vote counts, PDIP only won some 19 percent of the votes, while minimally it has to win 25 percent in order to nominate its own presidential candidate for the election on July 9.
NasDem Party, meanwhile, has collect 6.71 percent of the votes to finish eighth out of 12 national contestants.
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