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akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s quest to run in the gubernatorial election is almost secure as three political parties have committed to endorsing him.

Hanura, which has 10 seats on the City Council, announced on Thursday that it would endorse the governor, making it the second party to do so after NasDem. NasDem has five seats on the City Council.

“The party earlier delivered its support but it was only from the regional executive board. This time, the endorsement is from the party’s central board,” Hanura chairman Wiranto said.

And it’s not only Hanura. The Golkar Party, which has nine seats on the City Council, will also announce its support for Ahok.

Golkar politician Nurul Arifin, spokesperson for the party’s chairman Setya Novanto, confirmed that Setya would officially declare Golkar’s support for Ahok on Friday.

“It’s true,” she said.

With endorsements from the three parties, it will be enough for Ahok if he wants to run through a political party as the requirement only demands 22 seats to nominate a candidate.

However, Wiranto said it did not matter whether Ahok ran on an independent ticket or through a political party. “We decided to endorse Basuki because he is brave, smart, creative and does not have a personal agenda in leading the city,” the former Indonesian Military commander said.

“We do not want to be trapped in shallow considerations of choosing a candidate only because of their closeness to us,” he said.

With the endorsement from the three parties, Ahok has secured 24 seats from the City Council.

Ahok came to Hanura’s headquarters to receive an endorsement letter and expressed his gratitude for the support.

“I’ve known the Hanura Party since it was formed. I often met with Pak Wiranto and he often delivered his support to me,” he said.

Ahok, who reiterated that he would run as an independent, has nonetheless hinted that he has approached some other political parties, particularly the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). The PDI-P brought Ahok in to become deputy governor with then governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2012. At that time, Ahok was nominated by the Gerindra Party.

Ahok will run with Heru Budi Hartono, the current head of the Jakarta Financial and Asset Management Board. He will be assisted by the volunteer group Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok). Teman Ahok recently garnered one million ID-backed signatures. The group only needed around 550,000 IDs to secure Ahok’s right to run as an independent candidate.

On Wednesday, former members of Teman Ahok admitted to collecting fake IDs and engaging in foul play to gather them. Some former volunteers said they engaged in corrupt practices and did so for money.

Besides the accusation of fake IDs, Teman Ahok also faces another allegation from PDI-P politician Junimart Girsang. Junimart claims that the volunteer group received Rp 30 billion (US$2.3 million) from developers.

All accusations have been denied by Teman Ahok.
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