The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has selected provincial governor Ganjar Pranowo as their presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential elections on Apr. 21.
The nomination was announced by the ruling party’s chief, Megawati Soekarnoputri, during a live-streamed party meeting.
She formally appointed Ganjar, who is the governor of Central Java, as their party’s presidential candidate, Kompas reported.
“As the party leader, I order the party to immediately mobilise and work hard to reach out to voters on the ground to win the elections in 2024,” she said, according to a translation of her announcement by Bloomberg.
Also present at the meeting were Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, and party Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto.
Successor to Jokowi?
Ganjar, who has been serving as the governor of Central Java since 2013, earlier expressed his readiness to run for presidency in October 2022, according to Jakarta Globe.
“For this nation and country, what are we not ready for?” he had said during a special program aired on Indonesian television.
Speaking at the party meeting, Jokowi said that the governor was a leader who was close to the people and thanked the party for finally announcing their presidential nominee, Kompas reported.
“The change of leaders must not divert the nation’s struggle, which must be continued from time to time,” he remarked, according to Bloomberg.
Jokowi, who is in his last term of his presidency, is constitutionally barred from running for president again.
The announcement also put an end to speculations on PDI-P’s presidential candidate, as it was thought that Indonesia’s House Speaker Puan Maharani, who is Megatawi’s daughter, was also a potential contender.
Besides Ganjar, the other declared presidential candidates are ex-Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan from the Nasdem Party and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto from Gerindra Party.
Prabowo is a former military general and Jokowi’s opponent in the previous presidential election, before agreeing to serve as Defence Minister in Jokowi’s cabinet.
Controversy
Ganjar had been leading opinion polls in Indonesia, but his electability took a hit when he and his party opposed Israel’s participation in the Under-20 FIFA World Cup, which led to the cancellation of an international tournament.
Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and has long supported Palestinian independence.
Their opposition then led to Indonesia being removed as the host nation for the event which was supposed to be held there in May 2023, CNN reported, which led to the backlash.
A survey conducted by Indikator Politik showed that Ganjar’s approval ratings fell from 35 per cent to 27.9 per cent from February to April, while that of Prabowo rose from 26.7 per cent to 31.7 per cent in the same period, according to the Jakarta Post.
2024 presidential elections
Indonesia, the world’s third biggest democracy, will be holding its presidential elections on Feb. 14, 2024, according to Reuters.
A presidential nominee must be formally endorsed by a political party or a coalition that makes up either 20 per cent of seats in the People’s Representative Council or 25 per cent of votes in the prior election.
PDI-P is the sole political party to have met the criteria of picking its own candidate, while other parties would need to form a coalition to nominate a presidential candidate, Jakarta Globe reported.
The candidate will then have to win a majority and at least 20 per cent of votes in more than half of Indonesia’s provinces to be declared the winner.
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Top image via Facebook/Ganjar Pranowo
