Bima Arya, who previously served as Bogor mayor for 10 years, has announced that he intends to run for West Java governor in the November elections, when voters will choose the regional heads of all provinces, cities and regencies nationwide, with the exception of Yogyakarta.

A member of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Bima said PAN chairman and Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan had instructed him to contest the gubernatorial race in that province.

“[Zulkifli] has ordered me to begin campaigning to garner support from the residents of West Java,” Bima said on Saturday during an event in the provincial capital Bandung to announce his candidacy.

West Java is the country’s largest province by population, and was home to 35.7 million registered voters in the 2024 general election, or 17.4 percent of all voters nationwide.

To be eligible to nominate a candidate in the regional head elections, a political party or a group of political parties must have won at least 20 percent of local votes in the legislative election. PAN won 6.25 percent of the vote in West Java during the general election on Feb. 14, which means it must form an electoral alliance to nominate Bima.

Aside from Bima, former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil from the Golkar Party and former Purwakarta regent Dedi Mulyadi from the Gerindra Party are also among those touted to contest the West Java governorship.

Golkar has declared its support for the reelection bid of Ridwan, whose term ended in 2023, as did the terms of dozens of regents, mayors and governors across the country.

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