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Supporters hope Ahok runs as independent
Executives of the Nasdem Party announce on Friday the party's support for Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in the 2017 gubernatorial election in Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-left">Executives of the Nasdem Party announce on Friday the party's support for Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in the 2017 gubernatorial election in Jakarta.
Active supporters of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, grouped under the banner of Friends of Ahok (Teman Ahok), have expressed the hope that he will run as an independent candidate in next year's gubernatorial election as the group has worked hard to assist the governor.
Friends of Ahok previously announced that its volunteers had collected 689,276 photocopies of Jakarta voters' identity cards up to Thursday, more than enough required by law for anyone to run as an independent candidate.
"Our support is real. If Ahok wants to declare himself [as an independent candidate] today, we're ready," Amalia Ayuningtyas, spokesperson for Teman Ahok, told thejakartapost.com on Friday.
On Thursday Ahok said he might join the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for the election. He said that he had made contact with the party's executives about the candidacy.
The PDI-P plans to announce its candidate for the Jakarta gubernatorial election in April.
The volunteers were still working to collect more copies of identity cards because Ahok had asked them to collect 1 million to convince himself that Jakarta voters really wanted him to stand again, said Amalia.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Nasdem Party announced its support for Ahok, but without any condition that Ahok should be the party's candidate.
"Our support is not to nominate him as a candidate, but to make him Jakarta governor. It doesn't matter for us if he wants to run as an independent candidate or through a political party," deputy chairman of Nasdem's House of Representatives' faction Viktor Bungtilu Laiskoda told journalists on Friday.
Viktor said that Nasdem's support came without strings. "Jakarta needs a leader who works hard, is firm and keeps developing innovative thoughts," Victor said.
Friends of Ahok appreciated Nasdem's support of Ahok. "If Nasdem is consistent in supporting Ahok without conditions, we can say that Nasdem is also a 'Teman Ahok'," Amalia said.(bbn)
