“Such partiality is not fair to other candidates,” an Instagram user commented on Mr Luthfi’s post.
“(Mr Prabowo) said the regional elections are supposed to be neutral but he endorses Ahmad Luthfi-Taj Yasin instead,” a netizen posted on X on Sunday.
Responding to the concerns, Mr Hasan Nasbi, head of the Presidential Communications Office, clarified that Mr Prabowo’s endorsement did not breach election rules.
“As the general chairman of the Gerindra Party, Mr Prabowo is entitled to offer recommendations and support regional head candidates that are backed by his party,” he told local media on Sunday, as quoted by Detik.
Mr Hasan added that state officials such as the president who belong to political parties are also allowed to express support for regional-head candidates.
“The neutrality rule only applies to the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), National Police (Polri) and the state civil servants (ASN). Ministers, especially those from political parties, can endorse candidates and can even campaign,” he was quoted as saying by Kompas.
Mr Prabowo’s endorsement of regional election candidates is believed to be unprecedented. Indonesia began holding regional elections in 2005 when Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was president, and simultaneous regional elections began in 2015 when Mr Joko Widodo was president.
Mr Prabowo appears to have endorsed other candidates contesting in the Nov 27 elections.
Over the weekend, Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Ridwan Kamil said Mr Prabowo has endorsed his campaign. “The governors that are backed by Mr Prabowo Subianto are the Ridwan Kamil-Suswono pair,” Mr Ridwan said on Sunday, as quoted by Kompas.
Earlier this month, Mr Prabowo had also uploaded pictures of himself and Mr Ridwan having dinner amid reports that some coalition politicians have aligned themselves with Mr Ridwan’s rival, Mr Pramono Anung of the PDI-P.
During a lunch event in Denpasar, Bali on Nov 3, Mr Prabowo expressed support for Bali’s candidate pair of Mr Made Muliawan and Mr Putu Agus Suradnyana from his coalition.
Although the event was only attended by the governor and mayoral candidates that his Gerindra Party is endorsing, videos of him making the statement linked to his commitment to build a North Bali International Airport have circulated on social media.
