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Jokowi's hesitancy threatens PDI-P bid
Jokowi's popularity and his seeming reluctance to back Ganjar Pranowo's presumptive presidential bid is hindering the ruling PDI-P's chances in the upcoming election.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (right), accompanied by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (left) and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, inspects a rice harvest in Lajer village, Kebumen regency, Central Java, on March 9, 2023. (Presidential Secretariat's Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s consistent popularity through to his final year in office may pose a challenge for his own party the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest party in the ruling coalition, as he appears to keep his options in regard to his succession open while his supporters shift over to three-time presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto.
Back with an approval rating of more than 70 percent in public opinion polls, an achievement that any final-term president in any democracy in the world would look on with envy, Jokowi has proven his critics wrong for thinking he would be leading a lame-duck presidency at this stage.
But even though he still has command over hundreds of thousands of die-hard supporters prepared to follow his lead, the astute businessman-turned-politician has kept everyone guessing over his choice of a successor for when he steps down.
Jokowi was present when the PDI-P officially nominated Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as its presidential candidate, but he has not shown any indication of distancing himself, or his sons and supporter groups, from close ally Prabowo.
With Ganjar under immediate pressure to bounce back after the PDI-P's decision to sabotage Indonesia's chances of hosting a youth soccer world cup blew up in his face, Jokowi's own ambivalence may not be helpful for Ganjar in his attempts to reclaim his spot at the top of opinion polls.
Even Ganjar’s surprise nomination, a decision which party executives say was reached by PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri after consultations with the President, has not helped the governor reclaim a comfortable lead as many would have expected, analysts have noted.
A recent survey by the research arm of Kompas daily, the country’s most widely distributed newspaper, found that in a simulated three-horse race, Prabowo emerged at the top with 24.5 percent of 1,049 respondents favoring him, with Ganjar and opposition figure Anies Baswedan trailing behind with 22.8 and 13.6 percent, respectively.
