PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said over the weekend that the party would nominate a candidate for the November race either on its own or by forging an alliance to ensure that “no election is left uncontested”.

Hasto made the comments after the PDI-P’s potential partner the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) joined last week a growing number of political parties declaring support for Bobby, the incumbent mayor of Medan who was kicked out of the PDI-P last year for declaring his support for presidential election winners Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Bobby’s brother-in-law.

The PDI-P had been in talks with the PKS, which had previously considered forging a partnership to nominate Edy instead before eventually giving its support to Bobby last week, less than a month before the three-day registration period for candidates opens at the General Elections Commission (KPU).

PDI-P spokesperson Chico Hakim said on Monday that the possibility was growing that the party would nominate Edy, a retired military general who served as North Sumatra governor from 2018 to 2023.

“We are communicating intensively with Edy and he is so far the strongest possible candidate. There's also a chance that we might pair him with one of our own party members,” Chico told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “But this is not definite yet pending a decision from our chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri.”

Despite being eligible to field its own candidate pair, the second-largest party in North Sumatra is still weighing whether to forge an alliance with any other political party.