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Jokowi’s ‘open campaigning’ casts shadow on polls
The President stands accused of leveraging his authority in order to tip the balance in favor of his chosen successor, although the assertion would be difficult to prove.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) and Defense Minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto enjoy bakso (meatball soup) and coconut water at the Bandongan village market in Magelang, Central Java, on Jan. 29, 2024. The two leaders were on a working visit to the city to inaugurate the Military Academy’s (Akmil) Graha Utama building there. (Tim Media Prabowo/-)
As voting day draws nearer, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s activities continue to rankle his critics as well as governance experts, following his contentious statement insisting that he had a political right to campaign for a candidate of his choosing.
Some have accused him of leveraging his authority to tip the balance in favor of his preferred successor, despite the President’s claims that he has no plans to join any campaigns and his acknowledgement that it would be difficult to distinguish between presidential duties and political support.
The incumbent leader, barred from running for a third term in office, has been returning periodically to Central Java in recent weeks for what his office describes as working visits but which analysts say is “open campaigning” in support of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who is running with Jokowi’s eldest son, vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
“What Jokowi has been doing is no longer a covert campaign. The President has openly and actively built a support system, which he is part of, to support Prabowo and Gibran,” Feri Amsari, a constitutional law expert from Andalas University, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Central Java is a key battleground province that has helped Jokowi win past elections and is a stronghold of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), neither of which is supporting Prabowo.
On Monday, the President was seen eating bakso (meatball soup) with Defense Minister Prabowo after the launch of a new facility for the Military Academy in Central Java’s Magelang city.
