Global Courant 2023-04-21 11:52:21
JAKARTA – The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has declared Central Java provincial governor Ganjar Pranowo as its presidential candidate for the 2024 general election.
The announcement by PDI-P Chairman Megawati Sukarnoputri on Friday paves the way for Southeast Asia’s largest democracy to hold a three-way presidential race to be held concurrently with parliamentary elections on February 14, 2024.
“With this decision, I order all cadres to move forward immediately, work hard, meet the grassroots and win the 2024 general election,” Ms. Megawati said in a YouTube broadcast.
Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, 71, and former governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan, 53, had previously been declared separate presidential candidates by the political parties that supported them.
No running mate has yet been determined for either candidate.
Indonesia’s electoral law requires a political party or coalition of political parties fielding a pair of presidential and vice presidential candidates to win at least 20 percent of the 575 seats in the national parliament.
PDI-P is the only one of the nine parties to have more than 20 percent, so it does not have to team up with any party to bring a candidate pair to market.
Ganjar, 54, is struggling to make amends for the damage done to his standing among Indonesian voters after rejecting the organization of the 2023 FIFA World Cup youth matches in Central Java – one of the designated venues – over opposition to the Israel’s participation in the tournament.
His decision to oppose Israeli participation echoed that of Wayan Koster, the provincial governor of the PDI-P party and other conservative groups, which subsequently led to Indonesia losing its host rights, causing considerable embarrassment to the country and its football. brought.
Indonesia’s two most popular sports are football and badminton.
In the latest poll of presidential candidates by renowned Jakarta researcher Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI) following the youth football tournament fiasco, Mr. in third place.
The survey of 1,229 respondents across Indonesia was conducted from March 31 to April 4.
