Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo’s immense popularity makes him the most promising candidate to win the presidential election, regardless of who is chosen as his running mate, an analyst said on Monday.
Gun Gun Heryanto, a political analyst from Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University (UIN), said with his current level of likability, Joko would be able to win against any opponents, including former general and coordinating minister for economic affairs, Prabowo Subianto; Golkar party chairman Aburizal Bakrie; and former army chief, Pramono Edhie Wibowo.
“If Joko decided to run for president against the pairings of Prabowo-Hatta or Aburizal-Pramono, he would still win, even though he is paired withe someone from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle [PDIP],” Gun Gun said.
Gun Gun said Joko would be favored by associative voters who place more emphasis on the presidential candidate instead of the political party.
“The number of associative voters is extremely high and most of them are swing voters who have not determined their choice,” he said.
However, Joko’s popularity would be a waste if he was paired as the vice presidential candidate for PDI-P’s chairwoman, Megawati Sukarnoputri, he added.
“If PDI-P decided to support Mega-Joko, it would be hard for them to contend with other candidates, especially if Prabowo decided to start a coalition with the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party [PAN],” he commented. “Joko’s presence would not make an impact on the public if he were appointed as a mere sidekick for Megawati; this pairing would be the wrong move.”
Gun Gun said despite the high level of electability nurtured by Joko’s reputation, the PDI-P should anticipate any possible political maneuvers of other parties.
“A new trend has emerged recently. Some parties have been tempted to recruit other regional icons similar to Joko, such as Risma,” he explained, referring to well-liked Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini.
“It’s possible Prabowo may ask Risma to be his running mate,” he added. “If she was [recruited] by him or any other party, it will drastically change the map of the presidential election.”
Gun Gun also criticized the PDI-P’s decision to wait until the legislative election in April to officially name their candidate. The party’s inability to make a definite decision could be used as a weapon against it, he explained.
Meanwhile, a report released by survey institute Roy Morgan showed Joko was, once again, at the top of the list for favorite presidential candidate.
In the survey conducted in January, Joko was chosen by 39 percent of the respondents, far above Prabowo, who only garnered 16 percent of the votes.
Other presidential hopefuls including the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) founder Wiranto, State-Owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan and former vice president Jusuf Kalla were chosen by less than 10 percent of the respondents.
Debnath Gubaroy, director of Roy Morgan Asia, said the PDI-P has a large chance of dominating the government seats, if they let Joko run in the election.
The survey, joined by 1,131 potential voters in 24 provinces, also found that PDI-P’s electability was still above Golkar or Prabowo’s party, the Great Indonesian movement (Gerindra).
Despite frequent encouragements and strong recommendations to immediately name Joko as its presidential candidate, PDI-P is adamant with its decision to wait until after the legislative election before making a formal announcement.
PDI-P’s politician Maruarar Sirait said the party’s cadres were convinced that as the chairwoman, Megawati is more than capable of choosing the party’s best candidate despite external pressures.
“PDI-P is placing the responsibility [of selecting a candidate] in the hands of its chairwoman and we support that; we believe she will make a wise choice,” he said.
Puan Maharani, chairwoman of the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) central executive board — and Megawati’s daughter — said even though the Jakarta governor is highly favored in various surveys, the party would not necessarily jump to name him as its presidential candidate.
“There’s a procedure in place within PDI-P, so please don’t force your opinions on us. Supporting one particular figure is fine, but remember to respect the process [of choosing a candidate],” she said.
