Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura, Papua – The victory of incumbent candidate pair Lukas Enembe-Klemen Tinal during the Papua gubernatorial election on June 27 will not affect support for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the province, although the pair was not supported by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), an official said.
Tinal, the incumbent deputy governor, made the statement after the Papua General Elections Commission (KPU Papua) confirmed the vote recapitulation results, which showed the defeat of ruling party-backed John Wempi Wetipo-Habel Melkias Suwae.
Supported by a coalition of nine political parties, Enembe-Tinal won 1.93 million or around 67.54 percent of the vote. With support from the PDI-P and the opposition party, Gerindra, Wetipo-Suwae won 932,008 or 32.46 percent of the vote.
"There is no correlation between political parties' support in the Papua gubernatorial election and the support of Papuan people for a particular presidential candidate in the 2019 election. Although the political party that supports Pak Jokowi did not win in Papua; 95 percent of Papuan people still support President Jokowi," said Tinal, who is on the Golkar Party's central executive board in Papua.
The PDI-P, he said, was not the only party backing Jokowi as he sought reelection.
Tinal said Papuans' support for Jokowi was driven by the President's attention to Papua. Since Indonesia's independence in 1945, he said, Jokowi had been the only president to visit Papua nine times within a four-year term. "This is an honor for us, the Papuan people." (swa/ebf)