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Talks collapse on SBY’s son
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The chairmen of several political parties’ Jakarta chapters — Nahrowi Ramli of the Democratic Party, (from left) Syakir Purnomo of the Prosperous Justice Party, Bambang DH of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Eko Patrio of the National Mandate Party, Muhammad Taufik of the Gerindra Party, Abdul Azis of the United Development Party and Hasbiallah Ilyas of the National Awakening Party — raise their hands in unison after a press conference in Central Jakarta on Aug.10.
(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
W
ith only hours until the candidate registration deadline for the February election, six parties are struggling to unite to name a ticket to challenge Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Lobbying among the six parties began on Tuesday night, right after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the city’s largest political party, which was initially a member of the coalition, eventually threw its support behind Ahok and appointed party member Djarot Saiful Hidayat as his running mate.
Talks of a coalition collapsed again on Thursday night after members previously indicated that they were close to nominating one candidate pair, instead of two or three, met a stumbling block .
The Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have reportedly insisted on backing businessman Sandiaga Uno after the Democratic Party suddenly proposed a new figure, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, the eldest son of Dems chairman and former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Gerindra has reportedly rejected Agus, a 38-year-old member of the Army, as the party feels he lacks experience.
“The candidate will be one expected by the younger generation. Jakarta’s young population is large, so this candidate will suit their aspirations,” Dems lawmaker Benny Kabur Harman argued regarding Agus’s nomination.
The Dems proposed Agus on Wednesday night in a meeting with senior politicians from the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) at Yudhoyono’s residence in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java.
The Dems also proposed former education minister Anies Baswedan in the meeting. Meanwhile the PPP, the PKB and PAN proposed former law and human rights minister Yusril lhza Mahendra.
Senior members of Gerindra and the PKS did not attend Wednesday night’s meeting.
“Basically, the four parties attending Wednesday night’s meeting agreed to one another’s candidate. They did not oppose each other because we wanted to have one voice,” PPP deputy secretary-general Arwani Thomafi said on Thursday.
The Dems said it would announce its candidates at 11 p.m. Thursday night. If Yudhoyono insists on involving Agus, Jakarta may see two other tickets challenging Ahok.
Both groups — led by Gerindra and the Dems — are set to announce their picks on Friday, the last day for candidate registration, with the option of nominating one candidate pair remaining open, for example, by pairing Sandiaga with either Anies or Yusril, who both are acceptable to Gerindra.
Members of the coalition are likely to choose Yusril or Anies, paired with Sandiaga. However, Anies appears to be the safe option on account of his rising electability, according to a recent poll.
Anies is the former rector of Paramadina University and a respected academician. He has grown closer to Yudhoyono since receiving an invitation from the Dems to take part in the 2014 presidential election candidacy.
A survey by Jakarta-based Polltracking Indonesia last week showed that although he has yet to formally campaign in relation to his candidacy in the election, and though he was only mentioned recently as a likely candidate, his electability is above Yusril. His electability is reportedly edging closer to that of Sandiaga, who started introducing himself to Jakartans in March.
The survey showed that Anies came third after Ahok and Sandiaga in first and second, respectively. Anies was favored by 15.85 percent of 400 respondents in the survey. Meanwhile Ahok and Sandiaga were chosen by 41.54 percent and 15.90, respectively.
The survey showed that Yusril was favored by only 12.05 percent of the respondents.
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