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Star power: Parties, regional head candidates pick celebrities as campaign manager
Celebrities leading a candidate pair's campaign team is a strategy launched by political parties and candidates to garner enough votes to win the upcoming regional elections, slated for Nov. 27.
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Officials of the Central Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) hold a banner for voter registration at the Car-Free Day event in Jakarta on Sept. 8, 2024 to persuade Jakarta voters to cast their votes in the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial election, slated for Nov. 27. (Antara/Muhammad Iqbal)
Several political parties have named celebrities to lead the campaign teams for their respective nominated candidates using their popularity as part of the effort to garner votes ahead of the November regional head elections.
In Banten, for example, president-elect Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra Party has appointed actor-cum-businessman Raffi Ahmad as campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate pair Andra Soni-Achmad Dimyati Natakusumah.
Andra, a Gerindra politician, is running with the Prosperous Justice Party’s (PKS) Achmad with the backing of eight political parties, including four members of the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) that backed Prabowo in the February presidential election.
Gerindra executive Sufmi Dasco Ahmad confirmed Raffi’s appointment on Monday, hoping the celebrity would increase the pair’s chances of a win, as reported by kompas.com.
The pair will run against former South Tangerang, Banten, mayor Airin Rachmi Diany and running mate Ade Sumardi, who are running under the joint ticket of the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Read also: Campaign gets off to an early start in Jakarta gubernatorial race
The PDI-P named last week comedian Lies Hartono, popularly known as Cak Lontong, to head the campaign team for the in-house candidate pairing of Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung and actor Rano Karno in the Jakarta gubernatorial race.
Pramono said on Monday that Cak Lontong was picked to manage his campaign to help downplay tensions in the Jakarta election, which is known to be notoriously fierce and often serves as a springboard to the next presidential election.
“[We want to make] the competition joyful,” Pramono said, as quoted by tempo.co, adding that the candidate pair would push for an ideas-oriented campaign, rather than identity politics.
Pramono-Rano will face two rival candidates, including former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil and PKS senior politician Suswono, who are backed by nine parties, including members of KIM. Another candidate pair is Dharma Pongrekun-Kun Wardana who are running on an independent ticket. (alf)
