Defense Minister and 2024 presidential election frontrunner Prabowo Subianto promoted Medan mayor Bobby Nasution, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law, for the North Sumatra gubernatorial position during a campaign event in the city on Saturday.

“People can protest that [Bobby] is too young [for the post], but as long as the North Sumatra people want him,” Prabowo said at the campaign event, which was attended by the mayor, as well as several political party leaders.

In November, Bobby was dismissed from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for supporting Prabowo Subianto and vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Bobby married Jokowi’s youngest child and only daughter Kahiyang Ayu in 2017.

Prabowo told the audience that if he was given the presidential mandate, he would continue Jokowi’s development.

“The Prabowo-Gibran team is the Jokowi team, we are not ashamed to say that we are the continuation of Jokowi’s team. We now have a strong foundation, built by previous leaders,” he said.

In this year's presidential election, President Jokowi has thrown in his lot with Prabowo and allowed his son Gibran, mayor of Surakarta in Central Java, to serve as his running mate.

Prabowo first ran as vice president in the 2009 presidential election alongside the PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri before launching his own presidential bid in 2014, running against then Jakarta governor Jokowi..

He ran for president again in 2019 against Jokowi but lost after a bitterly contested race, which split the country into two opposing camps. (dre)

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