Party rifts seen in race for governor

JAKARTA. Rifts are appearing within several political parties that are still undecided over their Jakarta gubernatorial candidates, with just one party coalition having registered a candidate as of Sunday night.

Political parties have only until midnight Monday to register their candidates with the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU).

So far, a coalition comprising the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the United Development Party (PPP) stands alone in having submitted the names of their candidates — South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin and former marine Lt. Gen. (ret.) Nono Sampono — to the commission.

On Sunday, incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo cancelled his official declaration to run for a second term alongside Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Adang Ruchiatna.

Fauzi, who has secured support from the Democratic Party, which is the largest faction in the city council with 32 seats, as well as the National Awakening Party (PKB) that holds one seat, was scheduled to announce his candidacy during the weekly car-free day at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and planned to hold a press conference at his house in Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, later on Sunday.

Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Saan Mustopa had insisted on a collaboration with the PDI-P, despite Adang’s complaint that the announcement had been made one-sidedly.

Saan said that Adang’s name was first proposed by Fauzi when asked who he thought could be the best candidate for deputy governor.

The reason behind the cancellation remains unclear, but PDI-P announced late Sunday that it would endorse Surakarta Mayor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as its candidate.

“We announce Jokowi as the gubernatorial candidate. His candidacy is something that party’s members want,” PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo said.

The party, however, has yet to appoint Jokowi’s running mate. “We will see tomorrow,” Tjahjo said.

PDI-P’s Jakarta chapter chairman Djarot Saeful said that his party had no intention to form a coalition with the Democratic Party.

“The Democratic Party supports the increase of fuel price while we are strongly against it. We seek parties that share the same ideology,” he said.

The PDI-P is the third-largest party on the city council, with 11 seats. A party, or a coalition of parties, needs a minimum of 15 seats in order to name a candidate.

Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) secretary-general Ahmad Muzani said Friday that his party expected to form a coalition with PDI-P. Gerindra, which holds seven seats on the city council, also threw its support behind Jokowi.

Prabowo Subianto, the party’s chief patron, said that he expected Jokowi to be paired with Golkar lawmaker Basuki Tjahya Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, as they were both known for their integrity.

Besides the Alex-Nono campaign, the KPU has received the application of two independent aspirants: Economist Faisal Basri with businessman Biem Benyamin as his running mate, as well as retired general Hendardji Supandji with Ahmad Riza Patria.

The commission said it expected candidates would register early Monday to avoid the office being filled with candidates filing applications at the last minute.

The second-largest party on the city council, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), nominated politician Triwisaksana to run in the July 11 election. However, the party, which holds 18 seats, was still considering others, including party patron Hidayat Nurwahid, to run together or even replace Triwisaksana.

The KPU will announce the official candidates on May 10. (Lutfi Rakhmawati/ The Jakarta Post)