Bobby said Jokowi was involved through his support and prayers for his success.

"Yes [Jokowi had a role]. His role was to pray for his children," Bobby said on Thursday, as quoted by the detik.com online news portal.

Bobby has emerged as a contender in the gubernatorial election, backed by three parties from the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM). These parties supported Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who won the 2024 presidential election.

The three parties are led by individuals with close ties to Jokowi.

The Gerindra Party is chaired by Defense Minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, the Golkar Party is led by Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto and the National Mandate Party (PAN) is chaired by Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan.

PAN said that no one, including Jokowi, played a significant role in paving the way for Bobby.

"We do not see any specific involvement. In fact, Jokowi has been rather passive," PAN North Sumatra secretary Hendra Cipta said, as reported by kumparan.com.

Hendra said Bobby's candidacy was primarily based on his achievements as Medan mayor.

He is credited with being the most effective leader in driving development initiatives for North Sumatra’s capital city.

"It was the political parties that expressed interest in Bobby. In general, parties like PAN and Golkar had already signaled their support for him before the elections," Hendra said.

Golkar has 20 seats on the 100-seat North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council, enough for the party to nominate candidates alone.

Meanwhile, Gerindra has 13 seats and PAN has six seats. Neither party meets the minimum requirement of 20 percent of seats on the council needed to nominate a candidate.