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Banyumas-Banyuwangi corridor: The battleground in the presidential race
For the upcoming race, the crucial consideration regarding constituencies is how any of the three tickets could reorganize and reconstitute Jokowi’s 2019 voters, especially among the Javanese, to finish first.
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Posing for photos, presidential candidates (top, left to right) Anies Baswedan, Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo and (bottom, left to right) vice presidential candidates Muhaimin Iskandar, Gibran Rakabuming Raka and Mohammad Mahfud Mahmodin register themselves at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta on Oct. 19, 2023. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
As predicted, the presidential race to replace Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will feature the three candidates commonly touted in various opinion surveys.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP) put forward Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD to face Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who have the pledges of the Gerindra Party, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party, and Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar, who were nominated by the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Prabowo, who ran twice against Jokowi but later joined the cabinet as defense minister, has been campaigning as the “continuity candidate”, aiming to build upon the accomplishments of Jokowi's two terms in office.
Entering the final year of his presidency, Jokowi enjoys an unprecedented level of acceptance, according to recent surveys. This indicates that people favor a leader possessing the qualities and demeanor of Jokowi, along with the leadership and managerial approach of his governing strategy (The Jakarta Post, May 12, 2022).
Candidates for the Valentine’s Day race will therefore be pressed to emulate how Jokowi constructed his winning coalition of voters in both the 2014 and 2019 elections. With such understanding, it would be best to refer to the political algorithm (the Post, Feb. 18, 2022) of character, content and constituency to arrive at the most effective strategy for the election.
On the character and content elements the aspirants could vie to mimic Jokowi’s and at the same time introduce their own vision and values to differentiate from the others. On the construct of constituency, though, they would need to be more strategic in both understanding and approaching communities to win their votes.
