Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Quomas has publicly declared his endorsement of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and Airlangga Hartarto as his potential running mate in the 2024 elections.

Yaqut, who is also a senior figure in the country’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, declared his support for a pairing between the Defense Minister and Coordinating Economic Minister as his "ideal” on his Instagram account (@gusyaqut) on Thursday.

“If the two individuals join together for the 2024 election, I believe the contest will be more competitive and this will be good for Indonesian democracy,” Yaqut wrote in the caption for a photo of Prabowo and Airlangga shaking hands before their private meeting earlier this week.

But he also cautioned that a potential Prabowo-Airlangga ticket would not necessarily be an outcome that everybody wanted.

“At times, the best scenario that we want doesn’t become reality at the end,” Yaqut said, while adding that the country deserved good political leaders.

Earlier this week, Prabowo and Airlangga held a private meeting at Prabowo’s private residence in South Jakarta, which many analysts said could be a preliminary move from the defense minister to discuss his running mate.

Airlangga is a key architect of the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB), a loose grouping cobbled together as an electoral alliance to nominate a presidential candidate for 2024.

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