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Golkar to nominate Jokowi’s son-in-law for Medan mayoral election
Ahmad said Golkar will conduct a survey in early March to gauge the electability of all regional head candidates it plans to nominate for the upcoming elections in North Sumatra, including Bobby.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son-in-law Bobby Nasution. (Tempo/Friski Riana)
T
he Golkar Party has joined the NasDem Party in announcing its support for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law, Bobby Afif Nasution, as a candidate for the 2020 Medan mayoral election in North Sumatra in September.
“We have long supported Bobby and were waiting for the right moment to nominate him,” Golkar deputy secretary-general Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tanjung told reporters after opening Golkar’s North Sumatra regional conference in Medan on Monday.
Ahmad said Golkar will conduct a survey in early March to gauge the electability of all regional head candidates it plans to nominate for the upcoming elections in North Sumatra, including Bobby.
“We hope that Bobby’s electability will continue to increase,” said the House of Representatives Commission II chairman.
Golkar will also use the survey results to determine its nominations for deputy regional head candidates.
Ahmad said the party’s decision would also be based on its organizational mechanism and assured that Golkar would not ask for a so-called dowry from its candidates.
“Golkar Party leaders have made a commitment not to ask for a dowry from regional candidate pairs.”
Read also: NasDem to nominate Jokowi's son-in-law as Medan mayoral candidate
Last week, NasDem Party confirmed that it would also nominate Bobby for the 2020 Medan mayoral election.
NasDem chairman Surya Paloh said the party decided to support Bobby as the President’s son-in-law 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 said on Thursday.
Bobby registered with Golkar’s North Sumatra branch in December last year and with NasDem in January to run in the mayoral election. Aside from the two parties, Bobby has also registered with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Read also: All in the family: Jokowi's son-in-law registers with PDI-P for Medan mayoral race
Both Golkar and NasDem, however, are unable to nominate Bobby for the Medan mayoral election separately because each has only gained four seats in the Medan Legislative Council.
A political party is only eligible to nominate a candidate if it has a total of 10 seats in the legislative council, such as the PDI-P and Gerindra.
Such a provision would require Golkar or NasDem to form a coalition with other parties to gain additional seats. (syk)
