T

he National Democrat (NasDem) Party has officially announced its support for Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama'€™s candidacy in next year'€™s gubernatorial election, throwing into doubt his initial plan to run on an independent ticket.

NasDem regional coordinator Viktor Leiskodat said in a press conference on Friday that the party had endorsed Ahok because of the governor'€™s consistent ability to work professionally to develop Jakarta.

'€œWe also appreciate his commitment and determination in carrying out his constitutional role,'€ he said.

NasDem is the first party to officially endorse Ahok, a former Gerindra Party politician. Ahok later abandoned the party under which he secured the deputy governorship, fighting on a ticket alongside now President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

Before joining Gerindra, Ahok was a member of the Golkar Party and the New Indonesia Alliance Party (PPIB). During his time with Golkar, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the 2009-2014 term, but resigned in 2012 to run for Jakarta deputy governor.

Ahok, currently a free agent, has been preparing to run as an independent in the election slated for February 2017. Through a volunteer group named Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), he has managed to collect 689,000 ID-backed signatures, enough names to secure an independent ticket as a governor hopeful.

The ID cards will, however, need to be verified by the General Elections Commission.

Viktor claimed that NasDem'€™s support had no strings attached. '€œIt is not a problem for us if Ahok runs under a political party or on an independent ticket,'€ he said, adding that the party would, moreover, not attempt to foist a running mate on the governor.

'€œIt is up to Ahok. We believe in him,'€ he said. The party would not back any other candidates, he insisted. '€œRather, we will ask other parties to join us in supporting Ahok.'€

'€œWe will immediately process the recommendation letter,'€ he said.

NasDem has only five chairs on the City Council, and will have to ally with other parties to endorse Ahok.

Ahok has a close relationship with NasDem; indeed, he was a cofounder of the NasDem Organization that evolved into today'€™s political party.

The governor meanwhile said he was pleased to receive NasDem'€™s endorsement. '€œIt proves that there is a political party that wants to support independent candidates,'€ he said.

While purporting to remain faithful to Teman Ahok and a future independent bid, Ahok has been brazenly flirting with party endorsement.

He said recently he had discussed his candidacy with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). '€œI'€™m perfectly happy to be paired with Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, should the party so wish.'€

The PDI-P has not officially commented.

The governor said that collecting ID-backed support was difficult. '€œI have told the [Teman Ahok volunteers] that if they cannot collect a million forms, I will not run on an independent ticket,'€ he said.

Unlike his partisans, Ahok does not consider the number of forms already collected sufficient. '€œIn a survey, only 30 percent of respondents said they had provided their ID cards for my bid,'€ he noted.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) previously revealed that Ahok had the highest popularity among Jakarta'€™s voters, but only a small amount of respondents knew about Teman Ahok.

More than half of respondents to the survey, however, called on the governor to run independently.

Separately, Teman Ahok spokeswoman Amalia Ayuningtyas said that the group appreciated NasDem'€™s '€œunconditional'€ support for Ahok.

'€œIf NasDem is consistent with its statement until the election, we thank the party,'€ she said.

Amalia said Teman Ahok had initially been worried that the party would coerce Ahok into running on a party ticket, but was now hopeful the party'€™s support could boost the group'€™s form-gathering.

Meanwhile, Gerindra is considering a number of figures as its candidate in the gubernatorial election, including urban planning expert Marco Kusumawijaya and former youth and sports minister Adhyaksa Dault, both of whom have announced their willingness to compete for Jakarta'€™s number one position.

Other figures touted include City Council deputy speaker Abraham '€œLulung'€ Lunggana, Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil, Gerindra politician Muhammad Sanusi, former PDI-P politician Boy Sadikin, entertainer Dhani Ahmad Prasetyo and the Democratic Party'€™s Jakarta chapter head, Nachrowi Ramli.