Political parties eye coalition

Political parties eye coalition

JAMBI: Sixteen small parties are eyeing the possibility of a
coalition after a Constitutional Court ruling allowing small
parties to nominate their own candidates during the direct
election of local government chief executives.

M. Rum, an executive with the Nationhood Democracy Unity
Party, said that following the recent ruling his party had
discussed the possibility to forming a coalition ahead of the
election with a number of other parties, including the Democratic
Party and the Prosperous Justice Party.

According to the new ruling, a coalition will be valid if the
number of votes garnered by all the parties in the coalition
amounts to more than 15 percent of the total votes cast in the
general election. Before the ruling, only parties that had seats
on the relevant local councils were eligible to nominate
candidates for the direct local elections. -- JP