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Three parties set to nominate Gibran if PDI-P says no
Gibran Rakabuming Raka (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)While the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) weighs whether to nominate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son in the Surakarta mayoral race in Central Java, other political parties have expressed interest in supporting him
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Gibran Rakabuming Raka (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
While the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) weighs whether to nominate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son in the Surakarta mayoral race in Central Java, other political parties have expressed interest in supporting him.
As he waits for the PDI-P to make its decision, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, a culinary entrepreneur, has received interest from three other parties, the Golkar Party, the Gerindra Party and the Indonesia Solidarity Party (PSI), which have all said they were ready to back him with blessings from the parties’ leadership at the national level.
Golkar deputy chairman Ahmad Doli Kurnia said Golkar would support Gibran even if he did not get the nod from the PDI-P, claiming that Golkar had supported Gibran since he first announced he intended to run in the Surakarta race.
“Let the PDI-P follow its internal rules, but we have our own procedures. We have consistently supported Gibran," he said on Friday.
Achmad added that the party was currently seeking to build a coalition with other parties to support the 32-year-old political novice, if the PDI-P decided to back another candidate.
A political party or coalition requires at least nine seats, equal to 20 percent of seats in the Surakarta Legislative Council (DPRD Surakarta), to endorse a mayoral candidate.
Of the 45 seats in the DPRD Surakarta, the PDI-P controls 30 seats, which means it can nominate its own candidates for mayor and deputy mayor.
Golkar, meanwhile, only controls three seats.
“The decision [whether to form a coalition] is the PDI-P’s. We cannot intervene," said Achmad, adding that Golkar was prepared to name a running mate for Gibran if the PDI-P made a request.
Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto has directed the party to support Gibran, as well as Jokowi's son-in-law Bobby Nasution in the Medan mayoral election in North Sumatra, according to the party's deputy chairman, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, citing that Gibran and Bobby were the strongest candidates in their respective elections.
“We have been instructed to support Gibran,” he said.
Sufmi said the party was not waiting for the PDI-P’s decision, saying that Gerindra had its own mechanisms and processes for nominating candidates.
PDI-P Central Java chapter head Bambang Wuryanto said the party had done an assessment of candidates on Feb. 10 and obtained the results two days later, but that the party would issue its recommendations no later than March 23.
Observers have speculated that Gibran's mayoral bid may have caused tension within the PDI-P as approving Gibran could ruffle a few feathers in the party's Surakarta office, which supported the bid of Surakarta Deputy Mayor Achmad Purnomo.
Gibran decided to run after a survey by Surakarta-based Slamet Riyadi University (Unisri) in July showed that he had a popularity rating of 90 percent, surpassing the deputy mayor’s. However, the survey found that Gibran still lagged behind Achmad in terms of acceptability and electability.
PDI-P Surakarta declined Gibran’s application, saying it had already decided to nominate Achmad, with Teguh Prakosa as his running mate. Gibran later approached the party's national figures, including party chief Megawati Soekarnoputri, and decided to file an application through the party’s provincial chapter.
Bambang said the PDI-P welcomed other parties’ support of Gibran. "If Golkar and Gerindra want to support Gibran, then please, but we have to select the candidates first.”
Gibran asserted on Friday that he would not accept another party's offer to run for mayor and would remain faithful to the PDI-P, of which he is a registered member.
"I am a PDI-P member. I will still fight with the PDI-P, whether I get the nomination or not. There are several parties willing to support me if the PDI-P does not pick me, but I will still follow the PDI-P," Gibran said.
The PSI, which has one seat in the DPRD Surakarta, has also agreed to support Gibran.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which has the second-most seats in Surakarta with six, is still mulling whether to support Gibran. The party is currently divided, with younger members wanting the party to support Gibran.
PDI-P Surakarta chapter head and Surakarta Mayor FX Hari Rudyatmo said it was possible only one candidate would be declared eligible to run in the Surakarta race, as most parties wanted to form a coalition with the PDI-P.
In addition to Gibran and the Achmad-Teguh candidate pair, an independent candidate pair of Bagyo Wahyono and FX Supardjo also recently declared a bid for the race. The pair claimed to have gathered 37,422 supporters, exceeding the minimum limit required by the General Elections Commission of 35,870 people.
"We are not playing games. We are serious about this Surakarta election," Bagyo said.
