I

n the wake of the regional elections last month, several regional heads have declared their support for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, raising concerns that governors might abuse their power during the run-up to next year’s presidential elections.

East Java governor-elect Khofifah Indar Parawansa and West Java governor-elect Ridwan Kamil, to name two examples, have both been asked by the parties that backed them in their successful runs to help Jokowi win in 2019.

During a visit to Jakarta earlier this month, the United Development Party’s (PPP) Muhammad Romahurmuziy and NasDem’s Surya Paloh, leaders of two pro-government parties that backed Khofifah in the gubernatorial race, asked Khofifah “to cooperate for the sake of Jokowi’s success”.

Khofifah had previously confirmed her support for Jokowi during a televised interview with KompasTV shortly after quick count results projected her victory in the East Java election.

Outgoing West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Governor Muhammad Zainul Majdi, also known as Tuan Guru Bajang (TGB), who was a member of Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto’s campaign team in 2014, has also endorsed Jokowi.

TGB has even gone so far as to speak to his successor, governor-elect Zulkieflimansyah, about backing Jokowi’s presidential bid.

TGB’s support came as a surprise, especially as it was at odds with the policy of TGB’s Democratic Party.

The Democrats have yet to declare support for either Jokowi or his main contender, Prabowo, but appear to have drawn closer to Gerindra, which has endorsed its chairman, Prabowo, as a presidential candidate.

On Monday, TGB, who has been widely touted as a potential running mate for Jokowi, said he had just resigned from the Democratic Party in a follow-up to announcing support for Jokowi.

North Maluku deputy governor-elect Rivai and Papua deputy governor-elect Klemen Tinal have also expressed their support for Jokowi.

“The President’s development program has given hope to us Papuans that there will be progress in Papua,” Klemen said.

The 2017 General Elections Law allows governors — and even ministers and presidents — to campaign for presidential candidates as long as they apply for leave and do not use state facilities.

The 2016 Regional Elections Law is somewhat stricter in this regard, specifically forbidding sitting regional heads from using their authority or programs to “benefit or harm a particular candidate pair whether in their own region or another region”.

Incumbent Makassar Mayor Mohammad “Danny” Ramdhan Pomanto was disqualified from running in the recent regional elections after the South Sulawesi Administrative Court found him in violation of the provision.

Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) member Fritz Edward Siregar said governors who declared their support for Jokowi were not currently violating any regulations, especially since the candidates have yet to officially register for the presidential election.

“But I’d say that in terms of the ethics of statesmanship, regional heads should not [declare such support],” Fritz said.

Constitutional law expert Feri Amsari, on the other hand, said it was natural for governors and other regional heads to endorse a presidential candidate given that governors are political officials who have political stances.

“The important thing is that they do not misuse public and official facilities,” he added.

Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) researcher Fadli Ramadhanil said governors had less influence on a presidential election than they might have on a regional election. “The breadth of the policies they can enact is much more narrow and will have less of an impact,” he said.

In 2014, for example, Prabowo had the support of governors and deputy governors from 13 provinces but only won in seven of them, and in several cases only by very narrow margins.