High-ranking members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have refuted reports that party matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri has made up her mind to give the party’s 2024 presidential nomination to Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo.

PDI-P Surakarta office head FX Hadi "Rudy" Rudyatmo had been quoted by some news outlets as saying that Ganjar, who tops most opinion polls on potential candidates, had received Megawati’s blessing to run on the party’s ticket.

Bambang Wuryanto, a party executive in charge of electoral campaigns, refuted the claims, insisting that Megawati had yet to decide whom the party would nominate.

“I am on the executive board. There is no way that I would not have been notified if such a decision had been made,” Bambang said on Wednesday.

Rudy, a former Surakarta mayor and a vocal Ganjar supporter, has backpedaled on his statement, saying he would never overstep Megawati’s authority to name the party’s presidential nominee.

The party matron held a closed-door meeting with the PDI-P’s House of Representatives legislators on Saturday, but attendees have insisted the discussions did not include the party’s choice of candidate.

“[The talk revolved around] boosting the spirit of [party members] so we can have a stronger bond with the people,” Utut Adianto, chairman of the party’s faction in the House of Representatives, said on Wednesday.

House speaker and PDI-P member Puan Maharani previously said her mother, Megawati, had made up her mind about the party's 2024 presidential nominee and would make it public in due course.

The party matron has resisted pressure to announce the nominee but said at the party’s 50^th anniversary event in January that it would only consider PDI-P members as potential candidates.

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