Dasco Denies Rumours of Gerindra Merger with NasDem

Jakarta, VIVA – The Deputy Chairman of the Gerindra Party’s Central Executive Board, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, has affirmed that his party has never discussed plans for a merger or fusion with NasDem.

“Yes, as NasDem has stated, there has never been any such discussion,” Dasco told reporters at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, 21 April 2026.

Dasco even said his side was puzzled by the emergence of merger rumours with NasDem. In fact, there had never been any internal party discussions regarding such merger plans.

“What do we call it? When we heard it, we were also confused about the source, but since NasDem has already explained it first as the subject is NasDem, we think that’s sufficient,” he explained.

Previously reported, NasDem’s Central Executive Board Chairman Willy Aditya stated that NasDem General Chairman Surya Paloh actually offered the concept of a political bloc, rather than a merger or fusion with other political parties.

That statement was made by Willy in response to rumours that the NasDem Party would merge with the Gerindra Party.

“What was offered by Surya Paloh is a political bloc. A political bloc, not a merger,” he said when met at the parliament complex in Senayan, Jakarta, quoted on Tuesday, 14 April 2025.

He said a political bloc is part of political engineering as an effort to block the current transactional tendencies in party relations.

“It’s been very transactional all this time, right? Well, we need a solid political bloc from top to bottom, like that. Don’t misunderstand it as a merger,” he said.

He regretted those using the merger narrative. According to him, that term is not appropriate in the political context.

Willy acknowledged that Indonesia’s political landscape has previously been marked by party fusions or mergers, but those were driven by state decisions.

“We have had a tradition of party fusions, but those were driven from above by those in power. Party mergers only happened twice: Islamic parties becoming PPP, nationalist parties becoming PDI,” he stated.

He assessed that those using the merger narrative failed to grasp Surya Paloh’s idea, which he believes is full of reflective considerations.