Golkar Rejects Proposal for Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates to Be Party Cadres
Golkar Party Secretary-General Muhammad Sarmuji has stated that he does not agree with the proposal requiring presidential and vice-presidential candidates to come from the cadres of supporting political parties. According to him, the proposal would instead limit high-quality figures who are not affiliated with parties.
He said that the nomination of presidential and vice-presidential candidates should not be restricted solely to members of political parties. “The best people must be given space,” he said when contacted on Friday, 24 April 2026.
Because, he explained, the individuals nominated by political parties in the presidential election contest will become the nation’s leaders. Therefore, Sarmuji said that the space for nominations must remain open to anyone with capacity.
“If there are party cadres as candidates, that’s better, but if the best presidential and vice-presidential candidates are outside the party, it should also be open for them to be nominated,” said this Chairman of the Golkar Party Faction in the DPR.
Previously, a study by the Directorate of Monitoring of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) found at least four issues in political party governance. The four points are the absence of a roadmap for political education implementation, integrated cadre system standards, financial reporting systems, and supervisory institutions.
This anti-corruption agency has also formulated several recommendations for improving political party governance. One of them is through revisions to Law Number 2 of 2011 on Political Parties, particularly Article 29 on political recruitment.
In those recommendations, the KPK views that regulations on recruiting prospective presidential/vice-presidential/regional head/deputy regional head candidates must add a clause requiring them to come from the party’s cadre system, in addition to “being carried out democratically and openly”.
Not only that, this agency proposes adding requirements for a minimum time limit for joining the party to be nominable by the party.
“To ensure the implementation of cadreisation, regulations are needed to limit the leadership of the party general chairman to a maximum of two terms of office,” as quoted from the Appendix to the KPK’s 2025 Annual Report on Monday, 20 April 2026.
The KPK also recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs prepare standardisation and an integrated political party cadreisation reporting system with political party assistance funds (banpol). Political parties are also encouraged to implement the Constitutional Court Decision Number 60/PUU-XXII/2024 on the minimum threshold or threshold for regional head elections through regional head candidate recruitment based on cadreisation.