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Jokowi plays down billboards in PDI-P stronghold featuring him and Prabowo
The President has dismissed suggestions of political intent behind an increasing number of billboards using images of himself with Prabowo, his erstwhile rival and a potential rival to PDI-P presidential candidate Ganjar.
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Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (right) takes a selfie with President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (fourth right) and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (third right) during a rice harvest inspection visit on March 9, 2023 in Lajer village, Kebumen regency, Central Java. (The Jakarta Post/Presidential Palace)
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“Well, what can I say? Pictures of me were not used only by Prabowo or [his] Gerindra Party,” Jokowi said on Tuesday.
"The PDI-P used it. But so did the Indonesia Solidarity Party [PSI] and the NasDem Party. In East Nusa Tenggara, I saw [posters featuring] Viktor Laiskodat and me," he continued, referring to the NasDem politician who recently resigned as East Nusa Tenggara governor to run for a seat in the national legislature next year.
Billboards featuring the President and presumptive Gerindra nominee Prabowo and bearing the slogan, “Win together for a great Indonesia", have popped up in recent weeks on some streets in Pati, Brebes and Surakarta in Central Java, long a political stronghold of the ruling PDI-P and Jokowi.
Read also: Gerindra, Prabowo’s supporters harp on support from Jokowi to deflate Ganjar’s base
Despite attending numerous rallies for Ganjar, Jokowi has been meeting frequently with Prabowo of late, prompting analysts to speculate that the President is leaning toward his former rival in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
They have also said that the political materials portraying Prabowo as a close ally of Jokowi is a tactic to exploit the President’s ambiguous stance and diminish Ganjar’s support base.
