Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son-in-law Bobby Afif Nasution has registered with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to run in the 2020 Medan mayoral race. He previously met with a number of other political parties in North Sumatra.
Bobby, a property investor, submitted the Medan mayoral candidate nomination forms to the PDI-P's North Sumatra branch on Tuesday, where it was received by PDI-P North Sumatra secretary Soetarto.
"The PDI-P is the first party I'm registering with. I hope that it will support me to run in the Medan regional election next year," Bobby said after submitting the forms.
He added that he had met all the nomination requirements and was prepared to go through all the stages of the party's nomination process.
"Of course, every party has its own mechanism, including PDI-P. There's registration, screening and the fit-and-proper test. We will follow all of it," he said.
Soetarto said that the party appreciated Bobby's registration and that all potential candidates would follow the same process.
In September, Bobby, the husband of Jokowi's daughter Kahiyang Ayu, met with NasDem and Golkar party officials in Medan, but he has not registered with either party.
North Sumatra's Golkar executive Rolel Harahap said that it was still possible for the party to back Bobby in next year's race, despite Bobby's registration with PDI-P.
"Before registration was opened, Bobby visited the Golkar North Sumatra branch on Sept 16, so there has been silaturahmi [friendly relations] from the beginning," Rolel said on Wednesday. (kmt)