"The party chair has arrived at the decision, and we are all just waiting for the announcement. We all have to follow the party chair's decision to back this candidate and deliver victory in the general election," Puan said, as quoted by Antara on Monday.

Puan, Megawati’s daughter, claimed the party leadership would make the “best” decision.

"So please, don't allow yourself to be confused considering which [potential candidate] has the highest electability ratings or that this candidate will pair better with that candidate. Just wait for the announcement," Puan said.

Speculation was rife that Megawati would announce the PDI-P's presidential pick on Tuesday, when she was scheduled to make a big speech in Central Jakarta in celebration of the party's 50^th anniversary.

A recent opinion poll from Jakarta-based pollster Indicator Politik found that PDI-P member and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo was maintaining his lead in popular appeal.

Ganjar saw his electability rating rise to 32.8 percent in December, up from 30.8 percent in the previous month, while Puan, his rival for the party’s nomination, remained at the bottom rank in the same month with 1.9 percent.

Ganjar’s electability boost coincides with an improvement in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s approval rating, which reached 71.3 percent in the same month, the President’s highest since August, bolstered by positive perceptions of Indonesia’s role hosting the Group of 20 Summit in Bali.

President Jokowi is expected to join Megawati at the anniversary celebration on Tuesday.

Megawati has been critical of popular party members who she claims have been maneuvering to run in the 2024 presidential election.

At a speech during the party’s national gathering in June, she gave a strong warning to such party members, saying she would not tolerate any political machinations within the party in the lead-up to the 2024 general election and that she would immediately expel those who failed to toe the party line.

“Whoever is making these maneuvers can see themselves out. There won’t be any putting your eggs in two or three baskets when you’re in the PDI-P,” she said.

Megawati did not mention names at the time, but many observers speculated that she was talking about Ganjar.

The party later reprimanded Ganjar for his response to a question on whether he would run for president in 2024, in which he said he was ready to do so "as long as it's good for the nation".

“I made a statement that turned into much talked-about public discourse, and the party chose to reprimand me for it. As a party member, I accept this disciplinary action," said Ganjar at that time.

Ganjar is not the only aspiring leader to have encountered resistance from the PDI-P’s elite nomination system, wherein only Megawati, as the party’s matriarch, can name a presidential candidate, a process that has received significant criticism. 

In 2014, Jokowi, then a popular Jakarta governor, earned Megawati’s blessing to run for president just months before the election.

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