Political parties that win legislative elections or have their tickets win presidential elections do not automatically control the city’s political scene because gubernatorial candidates supported by other political parties often take the city’s top post.

In the first direct gubernatorial election in 2007, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which had won legislative elections three years earlier, failed to carry its candidate, retired police general Adang Daradjatun, to become governor. He lost to then-deputy governor Fauzi Bowo, who had been supported by the Democratic Party, the ruling party under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration.

In 2012, the Democratic Party had finally secured victory in the capital but could not get Fauzi reelected, despite solid support from the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura). He lost to then-Surakarta mayor Joko “Joko” Widodo, a novice on the national political scene who was supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra Party.

The PDI-P, which had clinched victory in the 2014 general elections and catapulted Jokowi to the country’s top post, later failed to secure the election of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jokowi’s deputy who had replaced him as governor, in a bitterly contested election that was tainted by sectarian bias. Basuki, aka BTP, lost the election to former education minister Anies Baswedan, who had been supported by Gerindra and the PKS.

Political observers are curiously awaiting the results of the April legislative and presidential elections. Pollsters have predicted a tight competition between the presidential tickets of incumbent Jokowi and running mate Ma’ruf Amin and contenders Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno.

A recent survey by the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank predicted that Jokowi and Ma’ruf, who are supported by the PDI-P and Golkar, would secure 38.8 percent of votes, while Prabowo and Sandiaga, backed by Gerindra and PKS, were not so far behind at 30 percent. Another third of respondents in the survey refused to answer.

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