Indonesia´s PD, PDIP have chance to coalesce: Yudhoyono

Source: Xinhua | 05-11-2009 11:10

JAKARTA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Party (PD) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) have a wide chance to coalesce both in the parliament and government in the future, Indonesian President and chief of PD's advisory board Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

"I think our communication (with the PDIP) is still running. The road is quite open for the possibility of both sides working together to continue the national development," the Antara news agency Monday quoted Yudhoyono as saying.

Yudhoyono said here on Sunday night that the PD continued to hold political communication with the PDIP executive board as part of efforts to reach a reconciliation.

"If we all agree to it, we can coalesce both in the government and parliament," he said.

The PD came up as the winner of the April 9, 2009 legislative elections by grabbing 20.85 percent of votes. The Golkar Party finished second with 14.45 percent of votes, while the PDIP followed in the third place with 14.03 percent of votes.

Speculations are arising that the PDIP and the PD are approaching each other to build a coalition, but leaders of both parties have denied them.

The General Elections Commission (KPU)'s final count shows that the Democratic Party and its coalition partners will dominate seats in the House of Representatives, with their collective seat gains reaching more than 50 percent of the House's 560 seats.