Hundreds of people who crowded a house on Jl. Tipar Cakung, East Jakarta, had started to look a little worried after waiting for 30 minutes there. A stage and dozens of chairs were erected the night before and several banners were seen along the street heading to the house.

Smiles bursted on the people’s faces when Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto arrived at the venue.

“This is my president, give some space to my president,” one lady shouted as she tried to get through Prabowo’s entourage in order to take a selfie with the retired military general.

Prabowo, who was President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s rival in the 2014 presidential election, went to the stage and held a microphone. Suddenly, once he started to speak, the noisy crowd turned silent.

“We have a great task ahead: voting for a governor and vice governor. Vote for the right candidates. If you vote for the wrong man then you should not be angry, cry or whine,” Prabowo said. His words were responded to with head nods throughout the audience.

On Tuesday, Prabowo started his three-day campaign drive for Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, who are supported by the Gerindra Party and the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). AniesSandiaga are running against two other candidate pairs in Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni for the election on Feb. 15.

Prabowo was accompanied by former military chief Gen. (ret.) Djoko Santoso during his visit to Pinang Ranti, East Jakarta, earlier that day.

On the first day of his campaign for Anies, Prabowo visited two neighborhoods in Cakung, a subdistrict considered to be a “key battleground area” with the second largest number of voters in the capital. In the 2014 presidential election, the majority of residents there voted for Prabowo over President Jokowi, giving hope to Prabowo and his team that residents in the area will once again stand by his side.

“We need Jakarta to be led by Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno. We need leaders who defend marginalized citizens and don’t like to evict people,” Prabowo said.

The collaboration between the two has surprised many since Anies was a spokesperson for Jokowi’s presidential campaign team, but both parties suggested that it was now water under the bridge.

Recent polls show the AniesSandiaga pair in second place, behind Ahok and ahead of Agus — a positive trend after months of being ranked at the bottom by various surveys. Experts have said that despite having lost the presidential election, Prabowo remains a popular figure and his campaign support could boost Anies’ electability.

(Read also: Anies-Sandi embrace celebs to attract young voters)

It is believed that Prabowo would run again in the 2019 presidential election and Gerinda has indicated this to be a strong possibility. “Pak Jokowi wants to run again in the 2019 election and we, the members of Gerindra, want to support Pak Prabowo again in 2019,” the head of Gerindra’s executive board (DPP) Ahmad Riza Patria said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Meanwhile, two weeks ahead of the election, Anies said that his campaign team was working in “full speed” as most high-profile figures like PKS chairman Sohibul Iman and deputy advisory chairman Hidayat Nurwahid had joined on his campaign trail.