Public Benefits from Early Presidential Candidate Announcements
At the NasDem Tower in Jakarta at around 11 a.m. on Monday (3/10/2022), NasDem chairman Surya Paloh announced that the party was backing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan’s presidential bid.
By
Kompas Team
·6 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Two political parties, namely the NasDem Party and the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), have declared which presidential candidates they will be touting in the 2024 elections. Early disclosure of their presidential nominees not only benefits political parties, but the public as well. However, election organizers must also anticipate early nominations, especially as the campaign period has yet to begin.
At the NasDem Tower in Jakarta at around 11 a.m. on Monday (3/10/2022), NasDem chairman Surya Paloh announced that the party was backing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan’s presidential bid. Six hours later, noncoalition party PSI announced that it would be supporting Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo and his running mate Zannuba Ariffah Chafsoh, better known as Yenny Wahid, and the daughter of Indonesia’s fourth president K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid.
Before NasDem and the PSI, the Gerindra Party had declared it would be supporting party chairman Prabowo Subianto’s candidacy. Likewise, the Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) also announced that they would be supporting their chairmen, respectively Airlangga Hartarto and Muhaimin Iskandar. Meanwhile, the National Mandate Party (PAN), during its national working meeting last August, proposed nine names they might support as presidential candidates (Kompas, 28/8/2022).
Political science lecturer Aditya Perdana from the University of Indonesia explained that in view of the public interest, voters would benefit from being presented with the potential presidential candidates from the outset.
From that perspective, it is of course good, because the political choices are more varied and interesting.
“This means that the public will be given some choices early on and it is clear which alliances are nominating who. From that perspective, it is of course good, because the political choices are more varied and interesting,” he said on Monday.
Early nominations also had a positivel impact for political parties, as they would be urged to consolidate and move forward.
On the other hand, early nominations could be troublesome for election organizers because each candidate could begin campaigning, even though the official campaign period had not yet started.
Aditya thus hoped that the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) would be able to anticipate the situation. Through their regulations on election campaigns, the KPU and Bawaslu must clearly define what counted as campaigns that followed the official timetable and early campaigns, as well as any related restrictions and sanctions.
The formal registration of presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2024 election are scheduled to take place from 19 Oct. to 25 Nov. 2023, with the campaign period to last from 28 Nov. 2023 to 10 Feb. 2024.
Reasons for backing Anies
When NasDem announced that it would be backing Anies, Surya Paloh explained that the party looked for the best figure amongst the potential candidates for the 2024 presidential election. The search led to Anies. In choosing Anies, NasDem had shown that it was not bound by any consideration of a particular figure’s political affiliation or which groups were supporting them.
Anies was one of three names raised as potential candidates during NasDem’s national working meeting last June. The other two were Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Andika Perkasa and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo. The party then left the final decision up to Surya Paloh.
As regards Anies’ running mate, Surya Paloh had left the choice to Anies, because he was the only one capable of judging with whom he would work best. However, Anies said that he had yet to give it any thought, and remained focused on governing the capital city until his term ended on 16 Oct. 2022.
He said the developmental stages continually emphasized sustainability and change.
Anies also talked about what would happen to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s policies and programs if he were elected president. He said the developmental stages continually emphasized sustainability and change. “And these are also what the chairman [Surya Paloh] conveyed when talking about the future. God willing, they will be maintained,” he said.
Though NasDem has already declared its support for Anies, the party must form an alliance with other political parties to be eligible to nominate him for the 2024 presidential election, since the party has not met the presidential threshold as stipulated in the Election Law.
In this regard, NasDem Party central executive board chairman Willy Aditya expressed the hope that Anies would make it easier for the party to form an alliance with other political parties, such as the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
“Anies is the common thread between these three parties,” he added.
Andi Arief, who chairs the Democratic Party’s election victory committee, welcomed NasDem’s decision. However, the Democrats must await a decision from the party council regarding presidential nominations and electoral alliances. The same was conveyed by PKS president Ahmad Syaikhu, who said the party was still awaiting a decision from the PKS Shura Council.
PSI’s popular consultation
In terms of the PSI’s decision to support Ganjar, PSI board of trustees deputy chair Grace Natalie explained that the decision was made based on the results of a public consultation in February. The Rembuk Rakyat (rembukrakyat.psi.id) online mechanism offered the voting public the chance to choose one out of nine potential candidates.
The Rembuk Rakyat website has published the current rankings in its poll as of Monday (3/10), with Ganjar ranking first (50.04 percent), followed by Erick Thohir (19.96%) and then Mahfud M.D. (5.99%).
“These are the 2024 presidential candidates the people have chosen through popular consultation, not the results of the political interests of PSI executives. Our conscience at the PSI aligns with the people’s choice,” said Grace.
As for a vice presidential nominee, the PSI would support Yenny Wahid, whom they had deemed was qualified. “We believe that Ganjar and Yenny will be the best candidate pair to further the national leadership,” she added.
Thus, the PSI would explore cooperating with other parties.
However, the PSI was aware that it must form an alliance with other political parties to be able to formally nominate Ganjar and Yenny. Thus, the PSI would explore cooperating with other parties.
Following NasDem’s announcement, President Jokowi invited Ganjar to join him in the presidential car during a visit on Monday to Batang, Central Java. According to Ganjar, the President only discussed maintaining the investments in the Batang Integrated Industrial Estate. (BOW/NIA/WKM/SYA/XTI/Z13/Z05)