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Jokowi tells supporters to be patient, but hints at Ganjar for 2024 race
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo greets his supporters after speaking to the press at the Djakarta Theater in Central Jakarta during the 2019 election. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo told his supporters during a rally over the weekend to “be patient” and that he remained focused on handling national health and economic issues as the country approaches the 2024 presidential election. But the President also hinted that he might direct his supporter groups to back a particular presidential hopeful.
The event on Saturday was held in Magelang, Central Java, by Jokowi’s supporter group Projo, which has backed Jokowi since before his first-term presidency, and was attended by hordes of his supporters.
Projo recently was vocal in supporting proposals looking to extend Jokowi's term past its constitutionally mandated date or delay the 2024 general election, before a series of student-led protests last month appeared to put an end to all term-extension talk.
While loud calls from Projo members hoping for an extension to Jokowi’s term could be heard throughout the event, the President urged the supporter group to not rush into declaring which prospective candidates they would endorse for the 2024 race because the current political landscape still had many uncertainties.
“Don't be in a hurry. Because [in] the current political dynamics, it’s still unclear which party will nominate [which] candidate,” Jokowi said during his speech on Saturday.
Aside from political uncertainty, Jokowi said that the government was still focusing on guiding the country through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because of the pandemic, we had two years of uncertainty, not just in Indonesia, but all over the world. Now that the pandemic is almost over, we have the [Russia-Ukraine] war,” he said, adding that the government is also trying to keep surging prices for basic commodities in check.
