Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – Regardless of presidential candidates, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo or Prabowo Subianto, they will have to partner with former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret.) Gatot Nurmantyo if they want to win big in next year's presidential race.

A survey commissioned by Jakarta-based pollster Alvara Research Center shows that Gatot, who obtained 19.6 percent of the vote, ranks top of the vice presidential candidate list with the highest electability for the 2019 election.

Meanwhile, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono ranks second with 15.7 percent, followed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan who secured 11.6 and 9.6 percent, respectively.

About 62.6 percent out of 1,202 respondents voted for Gatot to become Jokowi's running mate. Meanwhile, 56.8 percent want Prabowo, the Gerindra Party patron, to run as a vice presidential candidate.

Both Jokowi and Prabowo have yet to pick a running mate.

National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar matches both of them. Around 53 percent of respondents voted for him to run with Jokowi, while 54.1 percent gave him the nod to be Prabowo's running mate.

Despite his party being part of the ruling coalition, Muhaimin has not yet declared whether he will join Jokowi or Prabowo, or establish a third-axis coalition.

Alvara director Hasanuddin Ali said whoever the president candidates were, whether it be Gatot or Muhaimin, both were acceptable to the supporters of Jokowi and Prabowo.

"Gatot and Muhaimin can be game changers who will determine the configuration of the pairs of candidates running in the upcoming election," he said in a statement on Sunday. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/05/28/gatot-muhaimin-tops-vp-list-for-both-camps.html