President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law and Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution looks likely to face resistance in his bid to run for governor of North Sumatra later this year, following a mix-up with a local Golkar Party politician.

Bobby has been closely watched after the Widodo clan staged a political coup in the 2024 general election by siding with the rivals of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the family’s former political sponsor.

He had been tapped to be among the leading candidates to run for governor on the ticket of the Golkar Party, with which he has been closely linked after splitting with the PDI-P last year.

Read also: Parties eyeing likely contenders for N. Sumatra electionBobby recently attended a Golkar gathering for prospective electoral candidates and told reporters soon thereafter that he had set his sights on the North Sumatra governorship and had secured his father-in-law’s blessing to run, Kompas.com reported.

However, his statements apparently ruffled feathers at Golkar’s North Sumatra office, which already had someone else in mind for the job.

Branch secretary Datok Ilhamsyah said on Monday that Golkar’s members in the province, particularly at the grassroots level, would prefer to field branch head Musa “Ijeck” Rajekshah for governor in the upcoming race.

Ijeck served as deputy governor of North Sumatra from 2018 to 2023.

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