P

apua may not have a new governor this year, with incumbent Lukas Enembe likely being the only candidate to run in the gubernatorial election.

The governor claimed to have secured the backing of 10 political parties, leaving the undecided Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party with two options: join his coalition or form an alliance to challenge him at the polls.

A political party must have at least 11 seats at the Papuan Regional Council to nominate a candidate. The PDI-P only has seven seats, while Gerindra has six.

If one of them decided to jump onto Lukas’s bandwagon, the governor would then compete against a blank box in June.

The two parties are unlikely to form an alliance in Papua. In the national political stage, PDI-P and Gerindra are foes, with the former leading the pro-government coalition and the latter being the largest opposition party. As of Wednesday, neither party said it was willing to merge.

Even if the two decided to join forces, they would find it hard to find a worthy candidate to match Lukas, whose strongest potential rival, North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, dropped his bid to contest the election.

Paulus claimed he bowed out after failing to gain the approval of National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian.

“The decision has been made. As a Bhayangkara officer, I have to obey my superior,” said the former Papua police chief.

He added that he had told Tito in October last year about his plan to run in the election.

“And [the answer was], ‘Pak Paulus step back [from the plan],’” said Paulus, who will retire in 2022.

He previously sought the support of the Golkar Party to run in the election. At the time, Golkar’s executive Yorrys Raweyai said there was a chance the party would back him. But Golkar eventually decided to throw its support behind Lukas.

Lukas is also backed by the Democratic Party, of which he is a member, the NasDem Party, the Hanura Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), among others.

The 10 parties control 43 out of 56 seats at the regional council.

Lukas said he was approaching the PDI-P and Gerindra.

“There is still a possibility they will join us. If one of them wants to join us, then we can run a single ticket,” he said.

Lukas is the first Papua governor from the highlands and has presided over the expansion of highland political powers to become the “boss,” to the point that regent hopefuls who run against his favored candidates join the race at their peril, according to a report released by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).

The report highlighted how fraudulent elections in Papua had hindered development in the nation’s easternmost province.

Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) director Titi Anggraini told The Jakarta Post that although it was constitutional to have a single candidate, it would be a missed opportunity for the political parties involved.

“It’s a shame to only have one candidate for a province-level election in a region like Papua, which has a large population, a large area and many parties,” she said, adding that parties should use elections as a mechanism to test their members’ abilities.

“I am sure there are many Papuan party members who are competent and able to run for governor,” she said. “The people of Papua also have different political interests that could be better served with more candidates.”

Competing against a blank box, Titi said, did not guarantee that Lukas would win the election.

“According to the Regional Elections Act, the people can choose the blank column on the ballot. If the majority of voters pick the blank column, the election process has to start over,” she said. (kmt)

Apriadi Gunawan contributed to this article from Medan.