Arientha Primanita & Robertus Wardi – The lineup for July's gubernatorial election in Jakarta came into sharper focus on Thursday, but the picture was bleak for incumbent Fauzi Bowo, who is still without party support.
The Golkar Party, which said earlier this week that it would nominate either South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin or legislator Tantowi Yahya, announced on Thursday that it would back the former.
"We've decided to go with Alex," said Agung Laksono, the Golkar deputy chairman. He said Alex was the best choice because he also had the support of the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), which would automatically qualify him to run.
Parties or coalitions must have at least 15 seats in the 94-seat City Council in order to nominate a gubernatorial candidate. Golkar has seven, the same as the Islamic-based PPP, while the Christian-based PDS has four, giving them a combined 18 seats.
Priya Ramadhani, the head of Golkar's Jakarta branch, told the Jakarta Globe that Alex's running mate would be Nono Sampono, a retired Army general.
"From his track record in the military, he has what it takes to be deputy governor," Priya said. "He's the kind of person we need to develop Jakarta and make it a safe city."
Nono, a former commander of the presidential guard, had previously been linked to a gubernatorial bid with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), but Priya said there was no plan for Golkar and the PDI-P to join forces for the polls in July.
The Alex-Nono ticket was agreed on at a high-level meeting on Wednesday night that was attended by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, secretary general Idrus Marham and Priya.
Priya, who is related to Aburizal by marriage, had previously been expected to stand for governor himself. However, he said he would cede the nomination to "the more capable candidate." "For the good of the people of Jakarta, I'm willingly stepping back," he said.
While Alex's bid is just taking off, the man he intends to replace still has no political party backing after the PDI-P announced on Thursday that it would not nominate Fauzi.
Prasetyo Edi Marsudi, deputy chairman of PDI-P's Jakarta branch, said the party was not looking for a "just so-so candidate." He said based on Fauzi's performance over the past five years and his lack of major improvements to the capital, the PDI-P would not be supporting him.
Prasetyo cited in particular Fauzi's handling of the city's worsening traffic situation and his shelving of a monorail project as among his principal failures.
"We would rather nominate someone from inside the party, but in a coalition with other parties because we don't have enough seats to go it alone," he said.
The PDI-P has 11 seats on the City Council. Only the Democratic Party (with 32 seats) and the Prosperous Justice Party (also known as the PKS, with 18) have enough to nominate candidates on their own. Prasetyo said it appeared that Fauzi himself was trying to get on the PKS ticket.
He added that the PDI-P would announce its pick on Monday, when it is widely expected to go with Joko Widodo, the popular mayor of Solo, Central Java.
For its part, the PKS has already said that Triwisaksana, the City Council deputy speaker, would be on its ticket, but has not yet decided whether he will run for governor or deputy governor.
[With reporting from Suara Pembaruan.]