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PDI-P officially backs Ahok-Djarot for Jakarta election
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Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama (left) and Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat appear in a live report on TVOne news station on Sept. 20 in a declaration on the pair contesting the 2017 gubernatorial election. (JP/Dandy Koswaraputra)
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fter months of speculation the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has finally declared its support for Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat on Tuesday to run as candidates in next year's election.
"After a while, Ahok finally walked to the office of the PDI-P's central board [DPP]. Let's have a big round of applause for the Ahok and Djarot pair," the party's DPP chief Andreas Pareira said as Ahok and Djarot walked into the room for the announcement at the DPP headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday evening.
The party also announced its candidates for the 101 other provinces, regencies and municipalities that will go to the polls in the 2017 simultaneous regional elections.
Ahok and Djarot had earlier gone to PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri's house on Tuesday afternoon where she led a meeting attended by all members of the party's DPP to finalize their decision before making a public announcement.
The PDI-P have joined three parties, Golkar, Nasdem and Hanura in officially endorsing Ahok in the Jakarta gubernatorial election scheduled to be held in February next year. With the PDI-P's support, Ahok and Djarot have garnered 52 seats on the Jakarta City Council, double the minimum threshold of 22 seats required by any party or coalition of parties to nominate a candidate.
The announcement came a day before the opening of candidate registration for the election from Sept 21 to 23. (rin)
