JAKARTA — Indonesia’s main opposition party has struck a deal with a small political party, clearing the way for its presidential candidate to run for the top job in July.

Last week’s parliamentary election saw the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) emerge as the front-runner in early poll results, although it fell short of securing the 25 per cent of votes needed to nominate its candidate, the popular Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, on its own as President.

The small National Democrat (NasDem) party, led by media tycoon Surya Paloh, said it had struck a deal with the PDI-P, clearing the way for Mr Widodo to run in the July 9 presidential election, which he is widely seen as likely to win.

The PDI-P secured 19 per cent of the vote last Wednesday, unofficial results showed, while NasDem got 6 per cent.

“NasDem has a similar ideology to that of PDI-P and we have been communicating intensively for months,” Mr Willy Aditya, Vice-Secretary-General of NasDem, told Reuters. “We hope to be able to build a platform of restoration for Indonesia through our new government.”

Despite the alliance forged between the two parties, Mr Widodo has made clear that Mr Paloh would not be his running mate in the July race, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported. Mr Paloh is the founder and owner of Indonesian news television network Metro TV and publisher of the Media Group. “I greatly admire Surya Paloh for his unselfishness. (He) is not promoting himself for No 2,” Mr Widodo was quoted by the paper as saying, referring to the vice-presidency, at a press conference on Saturday held after closed-door talks between Mr Widodo and Mr Paloh announcing their alliance.

Neither of the parties disclosed the details of their agreement under the coalition talks, including the ministerial positions to be held by NasDem should Mr Widodo win the presidential race.

The PDI-P could still nominate Mr Widodo without the help of another party if it manages to win at least 20 per cent of the 560 parliamentary seats when official results are announced early next month.

Although the deal with NasDem clears the way for Mr Widodo’s presidential nomination, the PDI-P is likely to be still looking for political allies as the party would need a broader coalition to get legislation through Parliament. But Golkar, which secured the second-highest number of votes after the PDI-P with about 14 per cent of the total vote, has said it intends to nominate its own presidential candidate. Chairman Aburizal Bakrie on Saturday rejected a coalition offer by the PDI-P.

Analysts have said the PDI-P’s unconvincing win was partly due to poor campaigning and a failure to get the message out to all voters that Mr Widodo will be its candidate for President. Mr Widodo has openly voiced disappointment that the party did not work harder to garner votes for the election. “The political marketing was not pushed to its limit,” he was widely quoted as saying in local media last week.

PDI-P’s campaigning was led by Ms Puan Maharani, daughter of party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Mr Widodo’s supporters are reportedly blaming Ms Puan for the party’s performance.

Mr Widodo has played down reports of rifts within the party, including an incident reported by The Jakarta Post that he had been dismissed by Ms Puan when he attended a party meeting at Ms Megawati’s home on Wednesday. PDI-P legislator and media team member Eva Kusuma Sundari quoted him as saying he had not met Ms Puan since the election, the Post said. PDI-P Deputy Secretary-General Hasto Kristianto, who was at the meeting, has also denied the incident. AGENCIES