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NasDem to nominate Jokowi's son-in-law as Medan mayoral candidate
NasDem chairman Surya Paloh said the party decided to give its support to Bobby because the latter had earned the top spot in the party’s recent internal survey.
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The NasDem Party has confirmed its plan to nominate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son in law, Bobby Afif Nasution, as its candidate for Medan mayor in the upcoming simultaneous regional elections. (Tempo/Friski Riana)
The NasDem Party has confirmed its plan to nominate President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law, Bobby Afif Nasution, as its candidate for the 2020 Medan mayoral election in North Sumatra.
NasDem chairman Surya Paloh said the party decided to give its support to Bobby because the latter had earned the top spot in the party’s recent internal survey.
“We will give our utmost support to Bobby. He did well in our survey, too well, even,” Surya told journalists in Medan on Thursday.
He added that several people had registered with the party to run in this year’s Medan mayoral race, including incumbent mayor Akhyar Nasution. However, an internal survey revealed that Bobby ranked higher than Akhyar.
Read also: Jokowi’s son-in-law meets with Prabowo over Medan mayoral race
Surya denied the party had given its support to Bobby due to his relationship with President Jokowi.
“He became the President’s son-in-law by a stroke of luck. Why should we even care about that?” Surya said, adding that his son Prananda Surya Paloh would not join the Medan mayoral race.
The President’s in-law registered with NasDem’s North Sumatra branch on Jan. 22 to run in the mayoral election. Aside from NasDem, Bobby had also registered with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party.
NasDem is unable to nominate Bobby by itself since the party only gained four seats on the Medan Legislative Council. A political party is only eligible to nominate a candidate if it has a total of 10 seats on the legislative council.
Such provision would urge NasDem to form a coalition with other parties so it could gain additional seats and fulfill the nomination requirement. (dpk)
