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Jakarta election shaping up as race between Anies, Ridwan
The Jakarta gubernatorial race is shaping up as a battle between Anies and Ridwan, with political parties already lining up behind either of the two prospective candidates.
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Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (right) talks to West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil (second left) during a meeting of the Association of Provincial Administrations (APPSI) in Padang, West Sumatra, on Thursday. While both governors’ early political careers were launched by the Gerindra Party, Anies and Ridwan are supporting different presidential candidates from each other in April’s election. Anies has declared support for party chairman Prabowo Subianto, while Ridwan is supporting incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
(Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
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akarta’s gubernatorial race is shaping up to be a battle between two popular former governors, Anies Baswedan of Jakarta and Ridwan Kamil of West Java, as political parties start throwing their weight behind either of the two prospective candidates.
Anies and Ridwan both appeared one step closer to winning the backing of major parties in their bid for Jakarta governor, a prominent regional leadership post that is still widely seen as a springboard to the presidency, even though the city is slated to lose its status as the national capital later this year.
United States-educated Anies, who served as Jakarta governor in 2017-2022, is unaffiliated with any political party, while Ridwan joined the Golkar Party the same year he ended his term as West Java governor from 2018 to 2023.
In February, Anies campaigned for the presidency on a platform of change, but lost to eventual winner Prabowo Subianto, who campaigned on a platform of continuity to carry on with the policy programs of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
News broke this week that Anies was among 10 prospective candidates that the local branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) had proposed to chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has the final say on hundreds of presumptive PDI-P nominees in the November regional head elections.
“We had actually proposed our list of potential names, which includes Anies, to [Megawati] a long time ago, even before the party’s national meeting [in May],” PDI-P Jakarta secretary Pantas Nainggolan said on Tuesday.
Other prospective nominees on the PDI-P’s list include former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Andika Perkasa and former Jakarta governor Basuki Thahaja Purnama (BTP), still widely known by his former moniker “Ahok”, who ran against Anies in the highly divisive 2017 Jakarta election.
