Jakarta. Dangdut singer and National Awakening Party (PKB) presidential hopeful Rhoma Irama has threatened to walk out on the party after it agreed to support Joko Widodo’s presidential campaign.
“We will withdraw our support if the PKB forms a coalition with the PDI-P [Indonesian Party of Struggle] to support Jokowi,” Rhoma said on Friday, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.
A jilted Rhoma said the party’s better-than-expected showing in the April election was because of his own political and celebrity currency, while his frustration was compounded, his campaign manager said on Tuesday, because he felt Joko should have seen out his term as Jakarta governor.
The PKB exceeded expectations in the April 9 legislative elections, winning over nine percent of the vote (double its 2009 numbers) — a bump some commentators referred to as the “Rhoma effect” — although the support of Indonesia’s largest Muslim civil society group was a likelier explanation for the party’s success.
A party or coalition must have 25 percent of the popular vote or 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives in order to field a presidential candidate, but Rhoma took the view that he was still a credible candidate.
“It would have been a different story if we got 15 percent of vote,” PKB politician Ali Machsan Moesa said. “We could have been the leader of a coalition [and nominated our own candidate].”
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/rhoma-balks-pdi-p-coalition/
