A six-party coalition holding more than 60 percent of Depok’s council seats is backing a former incumbent in the city’s next mayor’s election in October—setting the stage for a three-way race.
A coalition of six political parties in Depok officially announced Sunday their support of former incumbent Badrul Kamal in the next mayor’s election, after the local election commission (KPUD) approved the independent ticket of Gagah Sunu Soemantri and actor-cum-politician Derry Drajat last week.
The coalition — which is comprised of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the Democratic Party, the Prosperous Peace Party, the National Awakening Party and the United Development Party — said they were optimistic that Badrul would be victorious.
Badrul previously lost a re-election bid in 2005 to incumbent Nurmahmudi Ismail, who is supported by Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
“Our surveys and those conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle [LSI] show that Pak Badrul has become the candidate with the greatest chance of winning the upcoming election,” Golkar Depok chapter head Babai Suhaimi told The Jakarta Post recently.
“We are optimistic we will secure between 60 and 70 percent of vote for our candidate and win in a single round of voting, given the political machines of the coalition parties,” he added.
The coalition is waiting to see if the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) will join, Babai said The Depok KPUD will open registration for mayoral candidates who are nominated by political parties on July 18. The mayor’s election is scheduled for October.
Under law, mayoral candidates must secure support from a political party or a coalition of political parties with at least 15 percent of the seats in the local legislative body.
Depok’s city council is currently comprised of nine political parties.
The coalition’s six parties hold 31 of the Depok city council’s 50 seats, or 62 percent. If Gerindra and PAN join the coalition, Badrul’s support will be 78 percent.
The PKS, which has 11 council seats, or 22 percent of the total, is likely to again endorse
Nurmahmudi.
“He is one of our strongest candidates in the mayor’s race. We expect to announce our candidate soon after receiving a final decision from the party’s central board,” PKS Depok and Bogor party head Qurtifa Wijaya said.
Nurmahmudi, elected in 2005, has faced strong criticism from some non-Muslim residents who claim that they have been unable to obtain permits to build houses of worship under his administration.
Badrul was implicated in 2005 in a Rp 9.5 billion (US$1.04 million) corruption case along with 45 former councilors.
Police named Badrul a graft suspect in a report made before the House of Representatives on Feb. 14, but changed his status from suspect to witness in March without explanation.
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