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Coalition to defy PDI-P in mayoral election

The upcoming mayoral election in Surakarta, Central Java, will likely become center-ground for a head-to-head battle between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and rival political parties after six political parties in the city formed an alliance to challenge the reelection bid of incumbent Mayor FX Hadi “Rudy” Rudyatmo

Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post)
Surakarta
Tue, June 30, 2015

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Coalition to defy PDI-P in mayoral election

T

he upcoming mayoral election in Surakarta, Central Java, will likely become center-ground for a head-to-head battle between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and rival political parties after six political parties in the city formed an alliance to challenge the reelection bid of incumbent Mayor FX Hadi '€œRudy'€ Rudyatmo.

The six political parties '€” the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), Gerindra Party, Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) '€” are united under the so-called Solo Together Coalition (KSB), and have recently announced that they will collectively endorse senior local official Anung Indro Susanto as their candidate for the upcoming Surakarta mayoral election to be held concurrently with another 268 local elections on Dec. 9.

Anung, who serves as the city'€™s Women'€™s Empowerment, Child Protection and Community Empowerment Agency head, will soon compete against Rudy, his current boss, who recently secured the PDI-P'€™s endorsement for his reelection bid.

Golkar politician Atik Wahyuningsih, who leads the party'€™s Surakarta branch, said on Monday the decision to nominate Anung had been made after a thorough process of deliberation.

'€œThe nomination of Pak Anung has received approval from a Golkar internal meeting and a joint forum held by members of the coalition. Among the three people who signed up with the coalition [for the mayoral candidacy], he is the best,'€ she said.

PKS'€™ Surakarta branch head Sugeng Riyanto also confirmed his party'€™s support to Anung'€™s candidacy.

'€œNow, we only need to look for a running mate [for Anung],'€ he said.

According to the 2015 Local Elections Law, a political party, or a coalition of political parties, must control at least 20 percent of seats in the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) or garner at least 25 percent of the total votes in a respective region, to be eligible to nominate a candidate for local elections.

The PDI-P, the country'€™s largest political party, currently controls 24 out of 45 seats in the Surakarta DPRD and has become the only political party in the city that is able to nominate its own candidate without any resort to coalitions.

The PKS, the city'€™s second-largest political party, controls five seats, followed by Golkar and PAN that control four seats each and the Democratic Party and Gerindra that have three seats each. Hanura Party and the PPP, meanwhile, share the remaining two DPRD seats.

Rudy, who leads the PDI-P'€™s Surakarta chapter, said he was ready to compete against the coalition.

'€œThe PDI-P'€™s election campaign team [Bapilu] has been working to carry out surveys, gather public support and map out the strength of our rivals [for the mayoral election]. We are ready to be a single fighter for the election,'€ he said.

Surakarta, also known as Solo, is a home to 550,000 people and dozens of heritage buildings, making it one of the country'€™s main tourist attractions.

The city is also known as the hometown of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who served as its mayor from 2005 to 2012.

Rudy, who served as deputy mayor under Jokowi, was installed as mayor in October 2012 after Jokowi won the Jakarta gubernatorial election.

The Surakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) will open the registration for candidates for the mayoral election between July 26 and July 28. Earlier this month, the KPUD had also opened the registration for independent candidates, but no one signed up.

Contacted separately, Anung said that he was currently preparing his resignation as a civil servant to follow up his nomination as a mayoral candidate.

'€œI will submit my resignation letter soon after I receive the official endorsement letter [from political parties] for my candidacy,'€ he said.

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