A former student activist and loyalist of Megawati Soekarnoputri from the days of the internal struggle for the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), he was nominated by the PDI-P chairwoman on April 21 to run for president and was registered as a candidate of the 2024 election on Oct. 19.

What is his background?

Ganjar Pranowo (née Ganjar Sungkowo), was born on Oct. 28, 1968 on the slopes of Mount Lawu in Karanganyar, Central Java. He was the fifth of six children. His father S. Pamudji Pramudi Wiryo was a policeman and his mother Sri Suparni ran a small mom and pop store from their house after his father retired. Ganjar’s parents initially gave him Sungkowo as his surname, which translates to “a reward after troubles and sadness”,  but they changed it to Pranowo when he entered school due to a Javanese superstition.

Ganjar studied at the Faculty of Law at the prestigious UGM in Yogyakarta, graduating in 1995. He later completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Indonesia’s (UI) Faculty of Social and Political Sciences in 2013.

In 1999, Ganjar married his wife Siti Atiqoh Supriyanti whom he met during a university compulsory community work (KKN) program five years earlier. Siti was the daughter of Akhmad Musodik, a prominent local Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figure, and the grand-daughter of Kyai Hisyam Abdul Karim, founder of the Roudlotus Sholihin Islamic boarding school in Karanganyar, Central Java. The couple have a son together.

What does he stand for?

Ganjar’s interest in politics began when he joined the Indonesian Student National Movement (GMNI) during his college days in the early 1990s. His pro-democracy activism against the authoritarian New Order regime led him to become a staunch supporter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). Nearing the end of the New Order era, the PDI was seen as the largest opposition to the Soeharto government.

In 1996, when the PDI was riven by a violent internal conflict between supporters of politician Suryadi, who bowed to the oppressive regime, and daughter of Indonesian founding father Sukarno, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Ganjar supported the latter.

He continued to support Megawati as she created a splinter party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), in 1999, after the fall of the New Order.

After years of working for the PDI-P, Ganjar tried his luck as a legislative candidate for the House of Representative in 2004. He lost the race but Megawati eventually appointed him as a stand-in representing Central Java at the House. In the 2009 general election, Ganjar ran again in the seventh Central Java electoral district and won.

In 2013, Ganjar ran for governor of his home province Central Java along with former Purbalingga regent Heru Sudjatmoko. Ganjar won the election with 48.8 percent of the total vote, defeating incumbent Bibit Waluyo and provincial secretary Hadi Prabowo. Ganjar won his second Central Java gubernatorial election in 2018, defeating former energy and mineral resources minister Sudirman Said with 58.78 percent of the vote.

Ganjar was considered successful in building his political support base during his time as leader of Central Java, especially through social media channels. By the end of his 10-year tenure, he topped various surveys as the figure with the highest electability to run for president.

However, he was criticized by other members of the PDI-P for showing too much ambition to contest in the 2024 presidential election. It was widely reported at the time that Megawati preferred to nominate her own daughter House Speaker Puan Maharani for the spot, but reconsidered due to Puan’s poor electability rating.

After months of speculation, Megawati picked Ganjar as the PDI-P’s presidential nominee in April, and in October the party unveiled Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD as his running mate.

What does he bring to the table?

As of March 30, 2023, Ganjar has amassed Rp 13.4 billion (US$ 860,000) in wealth.

Ganjar's nine years as a member of the legislature helped launch his name to national prominence. The PDI-P’s position as an opposition party at that time gave him ample opportunities to voice criticism of government policies.

When the government was hit by controversies related to the Bank Century bailout scandal during the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis, Ganjar stole the limelight. He became an opposition member of the Special Inquiry Committee on the Bank Century Bailout, which gave him the chance to convey the public’s discontent. He and a number of other members of the committee were at one point accused of receiving kickbacks from Bank Indonesia, but no case was ever made against them.

As governor, Ganjar initiated programs to improve the welfare of farmers, such as the farmers card (Kartu Tani), a non-cash assistance platform to buy subsidized fertilizer, which would be eventually adopted nationwide.

Ganjar lowered the annual interest rate for the province microcredit program (KUR) for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to 3 percent, the lowest in the country. Thanks to this, Central Java became the province with the highest KUR disbursement in the country.

Ganjar also ramped up efforts to reduce stunting and maternal and infant mortality and launched a campaign to prevent rampant underage marriage in the province. 

During his 10 years in office, Ganjar managed to reduce Central Java’s poverty rate from 14.4 percent in 2013 to 10.9 percent in 2022. However, by the end of his tenure, the provincial poverty rate was higher than the national average of 9.5 percent and the island’s average of 8.6 percent.

He has also endured much criticism of his work.

In 2017, Ganjar was accused of receiving kickbacks in connection to the electronic identity card (e-ID) graft case during his time at House Commission II overseeing regional autonomy. Ganjar has denied the allegation, and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) never named him a suspect.

That same year, Ganjar was criticized for giving the green light to the construction of a cement factory in Rembang regency. Affected residents won a legal challenge against the factory’s environmental permit at the Supreme Court in 2016, putting a stop to the project. Ganjar eventually revoked the factory’s permit following public scrutiny, even though a new, slightly revised license was re-issued soon after.

In 2022, Ganjar faced public anger following the arrest of dozens of residents of Wadas village in Central Java, who objected to the opening of a new andesite mine in their village. Despite strong protests from the villagers, the government continued to acquire plots of land in the village for mining activities.

Ganjar was also heavily criticized earlier this year, after demanding the Israeli youth soccer team be barred from participating in the 2023 Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia, which led governing body FIFA to revoke Indonesia's right to host the event.