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Bobby’s North Sumatra gubernatorial bid gains steam
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Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian (left) gives an award to Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution (second left) on April 25, 2024, during a ceremony to commemorate regional autonomy, in the Surabaya town hall in East Java. (Antara/Rizal Hanafi )
The potential candidacy of Bobby Nasution, the son-in-law of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, in the North Sumatra gubernatorial race, is gaining traction among political parties as he now has the support of more than half of the parties in the local legislature.
All four members of the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM), the electoral alliance behind the February victory of president-elect Prabowo Subianto, have now their early support behind Bobby. They include Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, of which Bobby is a member, the Golkar Party which won the most seats in North Sumatra in February’s election, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party.
Bobby’s bid has recently also gained the support of the NasDem Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), two out of three parties that backed unsuccessful opposition presidential candidate Anies Baswedan.
The six parties collectively control 62 of 100 seats on the North Sumatra legislative council and are eligible to nominate a joint candidate pair in the gubernatorial election in November.
PKB deputy chair Jazilul Fawaid predicted that Bobby would easily win a majority of the vote with the support of the alliance, which he called “a super coalition”.
"We call it a super coalition because that implies that the light of victory is with Mas Bobby. Together with the PKB and other supporting parties, we just need to decide who the deputy gubernatorial candidate will be," Jazilul said recently.
Read also: PKB backs Bobby Nasution for North Sumatra election
