Budi Arie Setiadi, the head of ProJo, one of the most prominent groups of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo supporters, says that the President is still trying to bridge the political divide between presidential hopefuls Ganjar Pranowo and Prabowo Subianto to pair off the two electability poll frontrunners as a 2024 ticket.

Speaking candidly in an interview with Kompas.com on Wednesday, Budi said Jokowi had long considered that a pairing of Defense Minister and Gerindra Party chair Prabowo and Central Java Governor Ganjar, a fellow Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) member, would be “ideal” for the 2024 presidential election.

“Whether it is Prabowo-Ganjar or Ganjar-Prabowo, [the President] wants these two figures to [join forces],” Budi says in the interview, which was uploaded on Thursday to the Kompas.com YouTube channel.

Read also: Ganjar-Prabowo or Prabowo-Ganjar? Ruling coalition seeks golden ticket for 2024

“If we look at the current dynamics now, things have become complicated. But [Jokowi] is still trying. There are still five months left” until registration opened for presidential candidates, and the President was still making efforts toward this union, he said.

Pairing off the two figures as a single presidential ticket has grown increasingly unlikely since Ganjar’s surprise presidential nomination over last month’s Idul Fitri holiday weekend.

Gerindra politician Desmond Mahesa recently stressed that talks with the PDI-P toward this send would be “pointless” unless Ganjar settled for being Ganjar’s running mate.

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