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Presidential hopefuls scramble for NU vote
Nahdlatul Ulama is seen as powerful, if fractured, voting group.
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President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo delivers a speech at the opening of the 34th Nahdlatul Ulama national congress in Darussa'adah Pesantren (silamic boarding school), in Lampung, on Dec. 22, 2021. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
O
nce a marginal player in Indonesian politics, particularly in the latter days of the Soeharto regime, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), an Islamic organization representing many of the country’s mainstream Muslims, could play a critical role in shaping the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
While the organization is not a political or ideological monolith and there is little reliable data on its true number of followers, it has become an electoral magnet for presidential hopefuls seeking to capitalize on its clout to win at least one key battleground province: East Java.
Over the past few months, prospective presidential candidates Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan and Gerindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto have been vying for the support of the traditionalist Islamic organization.
Visits to NU pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) are now the norm for candidates in the lead-up to an election.
A proven path
For the presidential hopefuls, one way to harness the political power of the organization would be to have an NU member as a running mate, a strategy that some analysts say was crucial for the election of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2019. Facing a strong Islamist opposition questioning his credentials as a Muslim, Jokowi picked then-NU supreme leader Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate.
