JAKARTA, Indonesia – Clerics from 67 Muslim organisations speaking as the Islamic People's Forum (FUI) said Monday (April 21st) the five Islamic parties should form a coalition for July's presidential elections, local media reported.

The five parties, which collected about 32% of the vote in legislative polls, are currently in discussions to decide which major nationalist party's coalition to join, The Jakarta Post reported.

Tarbiyah Islamiyah Association (Perti) chairman Basri Barmanda said the parties could separate from the three major parties and field their own presidential candidate.

Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Din Syamsuddin suggested the National Awakening Party (PKB), which garnered about 9% of the vote, should lead the prospective coalition.

But PKB executive Marwan Jafar said the party was close to aligning with Joko Widodo's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).