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n a move that could be seen as an attempt to boost his reformist credentials, the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron and presidential hopeful Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto is reportedly looking to tap a popular city mayor as his running mate.

Gerindra executives have confirmed that Prabowo has set his sights on two popular rising mayors: Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil and Surabaya Mayor Tri 'Risma' Rismaharini.

Both Ridwan and Risma embody a new breed of politicians in the country, marked by down-to-earth leadership styles, populist policies and ambitious programs that are transforming the nation's major cities.

The exemplars of this new mold, Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and his deputy, Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama, are reportedly also on Prabowo's list of possible running mates.

A member of the Gerindra Party advisory board, Martin Hutabarat, said the party would carefully consider each name before coming up with a decision.

'We are making a list of all the best potential running mates for Pak Prabowo. We have set our eyes on them and we are making careful calculations,' Martin told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Martin, a lawmaker on House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing laws and human rights, acknowledged that both Ridwan and Risma were among the prospective candidates.

'But I must remind you again that the final decision rests with Pak Prabowo and will also very much depend on the results of the legislative election,' Martin said.

Separately, Gerindra chairman Suhardi said that the party would focus first on securing 20 percent of seats in the legislative election so it could cross the threshold needed to independently nominate its presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Suhardi also said that Gerindra would likely keep a tight lid on who exactly would be Prabowo's running mate to protect the party's strategy for winning in the presidential election.

'It's better to focus on achieving our target in the legislative election because if we have to choose between the two [Ridwan and Risma] now, for example, that might stir unnecessary internal conflict, especially among our members in East Java and West Java,' Suhardi said.

He reiterated, however, that Gerindra was keeping all options on the table.

'We are intensively communicating with the individuals we consider potential candidates to be the running mate of Pak Prabowo, as well as with other political parties.'

Besides Ridwan, other politicians on the list include West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan.

'West Java is the key to winning the election. It has a large number of voters. We win the vote nationally if we win in West Java,' chairman of Gerindra's West Java branch, Ferry Juliantono, said over the weekend.

There are currently 36.6 million eligible voters in West Java, making it one of the most important provinces for parties to carry in the legislative election.

Meanwhile, deputy chairman of Gerindra's East Java branch, M. Soleh, said that Surabaya Mayor Risma's growing popularity, which spiked after her appearance in an interview on news channel MetroTV, made her one of the most likely options to run with Prabowo.

Last week, Risma gave a teary interview on the talk show Mata Najwa, in which she told of a plot to oust her because of her populist policies.

'There's nothing wrong with considering nominating Risma because she is widely known as a clean bureaucrat,' Soleh said.