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ncumbent Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo has officially registered his candidacy for the gubernatorial election, pairing with Sudijono Sastroatmojo.

Meanwhile, the North Sumatra Legislative Council Speaker Saleh Bangun said the postponement of a ceremony to install acting governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho as definitive governor was based on popular request and not because of political intervention.

Abandoning the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which supported his governorship in 2008, Bibit and Sudijono are supported by the Democratic Party, the National Awakening Party (PAN) and the Golkar Party

The three-party coalition holds 37 seats at the Central Java Legislative Council.

Registration for the Central Java gubernatorial race opened on Wednesday and closes on Tuesday.

As of Monday, only Bibit has registered. The PDI-P, which has 23 seats at the legislative council, has yet to register its candidate.

“I am confident I can win in one round,” Bibit said, while introducing his slogan “BISA”, which means “Able” as well as being an acronym of Bibit and Sudijono’s names.

Bibit promised that his performance as governor would not be hindered by him running for reelection. The former Army general said he was responsible for picking Sudijono as his running mate for the May 26 poll.

Sudijono is currently rector of the Semarang State University (Unnes), he claims to have known Bibit before he was elected governor in 2008.

Central Java KPUD chief, Fajar Subhi Saka, said Bibit had fulfilled all requirements, including the support of a party, or coalition of parties, with at least 15 seats at the legislative council.

The Democratic Party has 16 seats, Golkar has 11 seats and PAN has 10 seats.

“Bibit has not yet secured candidacy because there are other processes such as screening and clarification before [the pairing are] officially announced as gubernatorial candidates,” he said.

Fajar said document verification would be conducted on March 6-10 and medical check-ups would be held on March 6-8.

“We will extend registration until midnight Tuesday,” he added.

In Medan, Saleh said he had received input from various elements of the society to postpone installing Gatot as the definitive governor.

“Not only [would it] waste public funds, the province is in the middle of a gubernatorial campaign, so it would not be fair if Gatot was inducted at that time,” he said.

The ceremony was initially scheduled to take place on Thursday in Jakarta. Some of councillors were already in Jakarta when Saleh sent a letter to the Home Ministry asking for postponement.

He added that the fact that the ministry had yet to grant Gatot leave added to his decision to request for the indefinite postponement.

Support of Saleh’s decision was seen through various actions, including a huge banner containing the signatures of residents wishing the postponement of Thursday’s event.

Saleh claimed the majority of North Sumatra’s residents wanted the ceremony after the March 7 gubernatorial poll.

He also denied any political intervention. “I am the council speaker, no one has intervenes. It [the postponement] was a popular request so I have followed suit.”

Gatot, previously vice governor, has been appointed as definitive governor to replace former governor Syamsul Arifin who will be behind bars for a maximum of six years after being found guilty of graft case while he was Langkat regent.