T

he 2019 presidential election is two years away, but three political parties — the Golkar Party, the Hanura Party and the NasDem Party — have made up their minds about who they will nominate.

It is President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, long known as a political outsider and an anti-establishment figure despite his membership in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), now the nation’s largest party.

NasDem, a child of the New Order’s Golkar Party, is the latest party to announce its support for the re-election of Jokowi following announcements from Hanura and Golkar.

The party made the announcement after declaring on Sunday its support for Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil as a candidate in the 2018 West Java gubernatorial election. West Java is the nation’s most populous province and a key battleground in legislative elections.

NasDem executive member Johnny G. Plate confirmed his party’s support for Jokowi, saying that the decision was based on the fact that Jokowi had successfully led the nation for the first half of his term.

The political support offered by the three parties to Jokowi is a win-win for both sides.

The endorsement is clearly a boon for Jokowi, who has yet to receive a formal political endorsement from his own party, particularly from chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, to run in 2019.

The parties hope that their endorsement for Jokowi will boost their electability in the 2019 legislative elections and the preceding local elections.

“We have received good feedback with Jokowi’s 2019 presidential nomination,” Hanura secretary-general Sarifuddin Sudding said.

Golkar, which declared its support for Jokowi’s re-election last year, claims that its success in winning roughly half of last year’s 101 local elections could be attributed in part to the party’s endorsement for Jokowi.

The move is seen as a practical one as the Constitutional Court has ruled that the legislative and presidential elections should be held concurrently, forcing the parties to nominate a presidential candidate before the legislative election.

The PDI-P has responded coolly to the political moves made by its coalition partners, saying that the presidential election was still far away. “We are focused on the upcoming local elections,” said the PDI-P’s Alex Indra Lukman, the treasurer of the PDI-P faction at the House of Representatives.

“We are not worried by other parties nominating Pak Jokowi because after all, he is a member of our party,” Alex added.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Arya Fernandes said the early declaration of support for Jokowi would weaken the PDI-P’s bargaining power. “Megawati is worried that if Jokowi feels he is above the wind then she will lose control of the party’s grip. And early endorsements for Jokowi could encourage party cadres to call for Jokowi to take over the PDI-P chairmanship,” he said.