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Golkar denies double endorsement in Jayapura
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Jayapura Mayor Benhur Tommy Mano (left) and his running mate Rustan Saru present the decree of support from eight parties backing their bid for reelection on Wednesday, the support includes the Golkar party. (Antara/Indrayadi)
T
he Golkar Party has denied it gave a double endorsement in the Jayapura mayoral election after two pairs registered themselves in the General Election Commission (KPU) in Jayapura, both claiming to have the endorsement of the largest party in the local council.
“There is no double endorsement. We have definitely endorsed the Benhur Tommy Mano and Haji Rustan Saru pair,” acting secretary of the Golkar branch in Papua, Marthinus Werimon, said on Friday.
On Wednesday, Benhur-Rustan and Abisai Rollo-Dipo Wibowo both claimed to have the endorsement of Golkar, which has eight seats in the Jayapura Council. Both brought letters of recommendation signed by the party chairman, Setya Novanto.
“We indeed gave our support to Abisai Rollo and Dipo Wibowo through a letter on June 2. But after we did an academic survey, we found 56 percent of respondents chose Benhur while Abisai got only 6 percent. So we switched our support to Benhur,” he said.
Werimon argued that the letter to Abisai was automatically void after the party issued the letter for Benhur on Sept. 8. But on Wednesday Abisai claimed he had never received any letter canceling Golkar’s endorsement, so he claimed the June 2 letter was still valid.
Besides those two pairs, Boy Markus Dawir and Nur Alam have also registered as mayoral hopefuls. Boy and Nur are endorsed by the Democratic Party, Star and Crescent Party, and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI). The PKPI also appear to have made a double endorsement because Benhur also claims their support. (evi)
