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Candidates keep up pace as presidential campaign enters second week
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A pedestrian walks near election campaign banners in Surabaya, East Java, on Dec. 5, 2023. Candidates for the 2024 general election have been putting up campaign banners across the city since the official campaign period started on Nov. 28. (Antara/Didik Suhartono)
The three presidential candidate pairs kept up their pace in the second week of campaigning for next year’s election, as they canvassed for support on the ground, either trying to fend off efforts by rivals to make inroads in their strongholds or seeking to secure a spot in a possible runoff vote.
With nine weeks left until the campaign season draws to a close, rivalry on the ground is deepening among the candidates vying to succeed outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
After deciding not to take leave from his ministerial duties during the campaign season, presidential front-runner and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto spent his weekend in West Sumatra, where met with locals in a traditional market in Padang on Saturday.
"We will build the economy with downstream industries. We will build tens of thousands of factories, we will create extraordinary job opportunities," Prabowo said at the Raya Padang market.
His visit to West Sumatra, an electoral stronghold for Prabowo in previous presidential elections, came just days after Muhaimin Iskandar, running mate of presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, made a campaign trip to the province.
Anies and Muhaimin have focused on making inroads in Prabowo’s bases of support in the first two weeks of campaigning, as they seek to woo Prabowo supporters who are disappointed by his selection of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, as his running mate.
"West Java and West Sumatra are voter bases of Prabowo, and they used to be very critical of Jokowi. Now, with Prabowo joining forces with Jokowi, many of them will move closer to Anies,” said politician Saan Mustopa of the NasDem Party, which leads a three-way alliance backing Anies and Muhaimin.
