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Medan mayoral race: Neck-and-neck battle between incumbent and Jokowi's son-in-law
In Medan, the third-largest city in Indonesia, President Jokowi's son-in-law Bobby Nasution receives overwhelming support from political parties for his mayoral bid.
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Bobby Nasution (center), son-in-law of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, registers as a member of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of North Sumatra in Medan on March 12, in a bid to run for the Medan mayoral race. (Tribun Medan/Danil Siregar)
M
edan, the third-largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta and Surabaya, is in for an intense election race on Dec. 9, as incumbent mayor Akhyar Nasution goes up against President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son-in-law, Bobby Nasution.
Despite not having prior experience in politics, Bobby was backed by a giant coalition of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Gerindra Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Golkar Party, the NasDem party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), the Hanura Party and the United Development Party (PPP).
The coalition represents a combined 39 seats at the Medan Legislative Council.
Bobby is running alongside Gerindra politician Aulia Rachman, who is a former chairman of Commission II of the Medan Legislative Council.
Akhyar, on the other hand, is a well-known local politician with more than 20 years of experience in Medan politics.
In the 2015 regional election, Akhyar was elected as Medan deputy mayor alongside Mayor Dzulmi Edin. Since October 2019, however, Akhyar has served as the city’s acting mayor after Dzulmi was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for graft.
Dzulmi was later found guilty of accepting a total of Rp 2.1 billion in bribes from a number of Medan city officials and was sentenced to six years in prison.
