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ormer social affairs minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa had contested the East Java gubernatorial election twice and failed.

She lost the election to the same candidate pair — Soekarwo and Saifullah “Gus Ipul” Yusuf —in 2008 and 2013.

Ten years after her first bid, Khofifah won the top job in East Java on Wednesday, beating Gus Ipul with the backing of her former rival and Gus Ipul’s former ally, Soekarwo, who is a Democratic Party politician.

Khofifah entered the race in East Java quite late, announcing her bid only days before the registration deadline, even though rumors of her plan to run for governor had circulated for weeks.

Her poll numbers were initially far below that of Gus Ipul, who received the backing of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

It was a fierce battle.

East Java is home to the base of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), of which both Khofifah and Gus Ipul are well-known members.

Gus Ipul ran with Puti Guntur Soekarno — granddaughter of the country’s first president, Sukarno, and niece of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

While Gus Ipul is the great grandson of early NU leader Bisri Syansuri, Khofifah has also long been associated with the NU as she is the leader of Muslimat NU, the organization’s women’s wing.

On paper, Khofifah has more experience in national politics than her rival.

She joined the PKB shortly after it was formed in 1999 and served as women’s empowerment minister in the Cabinet of president and PKB founder Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid. Shortly after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo entered office in October 2014, Khofifah was inaugurated as the social affairs minister, a position she served for more than three years until she resigned to join the East Java race in January.

However, according to an analyst, she may owe her victory to her running mate, Trenggalek Regent Emil Dardak.

“The determining votes are therefore from outside of NU community and the competition was certainly won by Emil Dardak,” said Mochtar Wahyu Oetomo, a political analyst from Trunojoyo University’s School of Social Political Science in Madura.

“The determining factor in the East Java election are the figures, not the political parties backing their candidacy,” Mochtar said. “Moreover, the PKS and Gerindra don’t have much influence in East Java.”

Results of quick counts by a number of pollsters showed Khofifah and Emil led their rivals by less than a 10 percent margin, showing a close race as had been predicted by analysts.

Kompas Research Center said Khofifah and Emil, backed by the Dems, the Golkar Party, the NasDem Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the Hanura Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) got 53.36 percent of the vote, against Gus Ipul-Puti’s 46.64 percent, based on 100 percent of vote samples.

Speaking after the release of various quick-count results, Khofifah said she was happy with the result, while asserting that her victory with Emil was made possible by the support of various stakeholders.

“Insya Allah [God willing] if [Khofifah-Emil] are officially elected, then this is a victory for all people of East Java,” Khofifah said on Wednesday.

“We hope that following the election, everything will remain safe and peaceful.”

Separately, Gus Ipul has yet to concede defeat, saying he will wait for the official results.

The non-active deputy governor, however, said he respected the results of quick counts that had projected Khofifah and Emil’s victory.