The Jakarta Post

Jakarta

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has maintained that it will stick to its position of nominating Anies Baswedan for president in the 2024 election, denying speculation that the former Jakarta governor could join another presidential ticket.

PKS chairman Ahmad Syaikhu said the party's national congress had officially endorsed the presidential candidacy of Anies and that it would not settle for second place.

Syaikhu was responding to a scenario that Anies could be paired with Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo in a ticket nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

"We remain committed to the agreement made during the eighth national congress that Anies Rasyid Baswedan will run as a presidential candidate and not vice-presidential candidate," Syaikhu was quoted by Antara as saying.

The PKS has joined forces with the NasDem Party and the Democratic Party to nominate Anies as their presidential candidate.

The alliance, however, has failed to settle on who will run alongside him on the ticket, and ultimately resorted to allowing Anies to pick his own running mate from a list of vetted candidates.

With the presidential candidacy of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto gaining greater traction, many have proposed that Anies join forces with Ganjar to allow for a quick win for the PDI-P candidate.

Last week, Anies held a meeting with NasDem chairman Surya Paloh followed by an audience with former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the chief patron of the Democratic Party, and later a with Segaf Al Jufri, head of the PKS’ Majelis Syuro (religious council), its highest policymaking body.

Ganjar himself has responded cautiously to the proposal, saying that the decision to pick a running mate for him would be made by the PDI-P leadership.

"This is a democracy so everyone is free to come up with ideas, and we need to engage in a dialogue with others," Ganjar told reporters.

Anies said that the proposal to pair him with Ganjar could be seen as an indication of a prevailing good relationship among politicians.

"It shows that we all are one nation and we're all brothers and sisters and we all care for a better future for this nation," Anies told reporters in Bandung, West Java, on Saturday.

Keeping up appearances

Anies ended his political tour on Sunday, when he attended a wayang (traditional puppet) show held by the PKS at its headquarters in South Jakarta. Speaking to reporters during the event, Anies said his alliance “remains solid” heading into the February 2024 election and that his camp had “begun to talk about a winning strategy” for the race.

Anies declined to elaborate on details of the discussions, what the strategy would be, or who would be on the alliance’s ticket. He said his camp would announce the particulars when the time was right.

Political analyst Adi Prayitno said that through the string of meetings, Anies was seeking to consolidate his camp and create the appearance that it remained solid, despite the fact that NasDem and the Democrats had been at odds over the choice of his running mate.

NasDem had previously floated pairing Anies with Yenny Wahid, the daughter of late president and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, or former fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti. The Democrats rejected both proposals outright and maintained that their chairman, Agus, should be Anies’ running mate instead.

“These instances have given the impression that the coalition is fragile. That’s why Anies wants to consolidate his alliance,” Adi told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Aside from fighting off suggestions of a fractured coalition, Anies has yet to recover from his recent electability slump, which some members of the alliance have attributed to his camp’s indecision over his running mate.

A survey by pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) found that Anies remained in third place, behind Prabowo and Ganjar, with his electability rating dropping from 21.2 percent in July to 20.4 percent in early August.

– Dio Suhenda contributed to the story.

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