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Dems, PAN turn to female candidate to challenge Risma

After two failed attempts, the coalition of the Democratic Party (PD) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) announced on Friday that it would register a new candidate pair for the upcoming Surabaya mayoral election, rebuffing a widespread allegation that the parties were reluctant to challenge the reelection bid of popular Mayor Tri “Risma” Rismaharini

Indra Harsaputra (The Jakarta Post)
Surabaya
Sat, September 5, 2015

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Dems, PAN turn to female candidate to challenge Risma

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fter two failed attempts, the coalition of the Democratic Party (PD) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) announced on Friday that it would register a new candidate pair for the upcoming Surabaya mayoral election, rebuffing a widespread allegation that the parties were reluctant to challenge the reelection bid of popular Mayor Tri '€œRisma'€ Rismaharini.

East Java Governor Soekarwo, who leads the PD'€™s provincial chapter, said the party had agreed to endorse former PD lawmaker Lucy Kurniasari as running mate for Surabaya mayoral candidate Rasiyo, whose candidacy registration was rejected last month by the Surabaya General Elections Commission (KPUD) due to inconsistencies in the paperwork.

The 47-year-old Lucy, a PD executive and former winner of a local beauty pageant, will replace former journalist Dhimam Abror Djuraid as Rasiyo'€™s deputy mayoral candidate after the KPUD found that Dhimam had failed to submit proper tax payment documents or an official recommendation letter from PAN.

'€œAccording to a discussion within the [PD] central board, it has been confirmed that Ibu Lucy will become the running mate for Rasiyo. This decision is supported by both the PD and PAN,'€ Soekarwo told reporters.

In the 2009 legislative elections, Lucy managed to secure one of 10 contested seats in the House of Representatives in the first East Java electoral district, which covers the Surabaya municipality and the Sidoarjo regency.

However, she failed to secure her reelection in the 2014 legislative elections despite being PD'€™s top lawmaker candidate in the district. Her campaign'€˜s tagline during last year'€™s election was '€œSidji ae, sing ayu'€ (Choose No. 1, the beautiful one).

PAN'€™s East Java chapter head Suyoto said Lucy'€™s nomination would boost the coalition'€™s chances of winning the upcoming mayoral election. '€œLucy is a popular figure among female voters in Surabaya,'€ he said.

Indonesia is planning to hold an election for regional heads in 269 regions on Dec. 9.

With 2.1 million registered voters, the Surabaya mayoral election will be the largest election at the municipality and regency levels this year.

Risma, who was first elected Surabaya Mayor in 2010, has become the frontrunner for the upcoming mayoral election following her success in transforming the East Java provincial capital from a neglected city into a city with many first-class public parks.

On Aug. 3, the last day of the second round of candidate registrations, Dhimam and businessman Haries Purwoko received an endorsement from the PD and PAN to register their candidacy with the KPUD. The plan, however, failed after Haries got cold feet and withdrew his candidacy at the eleventh hour.

Several days later, the two parties registered the nomination of the Rasiyo-Dhimam pair with the KPUD, which extended the registration period for a third time. Soon after it rejected the registration of the pair, the KPUD announced that it would reopen the registration period for aspiring candidates from Sept. 6 to 8, as the local elections law stipulates that a regional head election must field at least two candidate pairs in order to be valid.

Risma has repeatedly expressed disappointment with the Surabaya KPUD for annulling the candidacy of her potential rivals for the upcoming mayoral election, saying that an unnecessary election postponement would put the city'€™s development and local residents'€™ welfare at stake.

KPUD commissioner Nur Syamsi, meanwhile, confirmed that Rasiyo was still eligible to run as a mayoral candidate despite the KPUD'€™s recent decision to rule out his previous nomination. '€œThere is no political pressure or political interest behind [our] decision to let Rasiyo register his candidacy again,'€ Nur said.

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