Ronna Nirmala – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) announced on Saturday that it will throw its support behind incumbent governor Fauzi Bowo for September's gubernatorial runoff to, citing similar ideologies.

The Islamic party's support for Fauzi and his running mate Nachrowi Ramli was declared during an event at the PKS headquarters in South Jakarta. Hidayat Nur Wahid, the former speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a candidate that the PKS backed for the gubernatorial election, was also in attendance along with Fauzi and Nachrowi.

The head of the Jakarta chapter of the PKS, Slamet Nurdin, said the decision to support Fauzi was based on the same Islamic ideals shared between Fauzi and the PKS. "We make the ummah unity our priority," Selamet said, using the word for a community of Muslims bound together by ties of religion.

Selamet admitted the campaign teams of both Fauzi and Hidayat made verbal attacks against each other ahead of the first round of the election on July 11. "But both parties have apologized to each other, and agreed to ask all our supporters to prioritize on the ummah unity," Selamet said.

He also said the PKS would mobilize its members and supporters to vote for Fauzi in the upcoming election runoff on Sep. 20, when the incumbent faces off with Solo Mayor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate Basuki T. "Ahok" Purnama.

Hidayat said the PKS had also communicated with Jokowi for a possible partnership. "But... Pak Jokowi hasn't shown, hasn't clarified his stance," Hidayat said, as quoted by Indonesian news portal kompas.com.

The PKS show of support for Fauzi is expected to boost votes for the incumbent, as the Hidayat-Didik J. Rachbini ticket that the party backed earlier finished third in the first round, securing 11 percent of the vote. (BeritaSatu/JG)