Indonesia's Golkar forms coalition to endorse chief as presidential candidate

Campaign billboards featuring Golkar chief Airlangga Hartarto sprang up in Java and Sulawesi in late 2021. - ST

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): Indonesia's oldest party Golkar has formed a coalition with two smaller parties, in a move that analysts view as endorsing its party chief as a presidential candidate and opening up a chance of having more than two presidential hopefuls in the 2024 election unlike the last two polls.

The alliance with National Mandate Party (PAN) and United Development Party (PPP), named "United Indonesia Coalition", seeks to "end the use of political identities polarising Indonesian voters" as seen in the 2014 and 2019 elections, which Golkar top executive Ace Hasan Syadzily described as "causing a deep trauma" within the society after the polls.