Anies has announced his intention to run for Jakarta governor in November after some major parties touted him as a prospective candidate, despite his not being affiliated with any political party. He, however, appears to be facing a bumpy road to secure a nomination after most of the parties that had expressed their interest in his reelection bid now weigh other prospective candidates.

Anies received his first early support last week when the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) endorsed him for another run in the Jakarta gubernatorial election and proposed its former chairman Sohibul Iman as his running mate.

Anies was a popular Jakarta governor from 2017-2022 before running for president in February of this year on the ticket of the PKS, the NasDem Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), but lost to Prabowo Subianto in the three-horse presidential election.

Despite being the largest party in the capital, the PKS still needs to forge an alliance with other parties to be able to register a ticket with the General Elections Commission (KPU) Jakarta office starting from Aug. 27.

There are no parties in the city that meet the nomination threshold of controlling at least 20 percent of seats at the Jakarta City Council to be eligible to field a candidate pair in the November gubernatorial race alone without forming an alliance with other parties.

Acknowledging that the PKS cannot nominate a candidate pair on its own, its chairman Ahmad Syaikhu later suggested that its nomination remained negotiable and that it would seek support from other parties. “We can’t do this alone,” he said.