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PDI-P ‘definitely’ considering Kaesang for Central Java race: Puan
The PDI-P executive board chair has confirmed that the party is "definitely" considering President's youngest son and PSI chair as a potential nominee for Central Java governor.
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House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani presides over a meeting on Aug. 8, 2023 with Young Parliamentarians of the 44th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Jakarta. (Antara/Indonesian House of Representatives)
P
uan Maharani from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Tuesday that the party leadership was weighing the idea of nominating Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) chairman Kaesang Pangarep for Central Java governor in November’s regional head elections.
The PDI-P central executive board chair, who is also House of Representatives Speaker, said Kaesang was one of the prominent politicians the party was considering backing in the province’s gubernatorial race.
"Definitely, he [Kaesang] is one of individuals being considered," Puan confirmed, as quoted by Antara.
A public opinion poll conducted in late June by the Jakarta-based Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found that Kaesang, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's youngest son, was the most popular politician among respondents in Central Java, with 15.9 percent saying they would vote for him as governor.
The second-most popular figure is former Central Java police chief Ahmad Luthfi, a confidante of the President, with 12.9 percent.
Trailing behind both is senior PDI-P politician Bambang Wuryanto with only 1.8 percent.
President Jokowi has been engaged in a “cold war” with the PDI-P leadership ever since he backed rival candidate Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party, who won the 2024 general election by a landslide.
Helped by Jokowi's tacit endorsement and running alongside his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka for vice president, Prabowo won 58 percent of the vote in the February election, while PDI-P candidate Ganjar Pranowo secured only 16 percent.
While PDI-P matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri has taken a confrontational stance against Jokowi, whom the party backed in the 2014 and 2019 elections, Puan has taken a more conciliatory approach.
