Jakarta – After popular Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) politician Khofifah Indar Parawansa joined the campaign team of Gerindra Party presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, rival camps have expressed confidence that the move will not influence the current state of the race, especially the battleground province of East Java.
Earlier on Wednesday, Khofifah, the incumbent governor of East Java, declared her support for Prabowo's presidential bid and expressed her willingness to join his campaign team."I just returned from performing the umrah [minor haj pilgrimage]. And as I promised earlier, now I am ready to join the national campaign team," Khofifah told reporters at the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo said that he was not convinced that Khofifah could bring in many votes from NU's base in the province.
"We're not the kind of candidates who get worried easily," Ganjar was quoted by Antara as saying on Thursday.
Ganjar said that he could achieve victory in East Java, especially with Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD, another respected figure representing NU, running as his vice presidential candidate.
"We're building a movement with the people. So don't worry," Ganjar said.
Khofifah was once tipped to be Prabowo's running mate simply because of her popularity among NU members.
As the biggest Islamic organization in the country, NU remains influential, especially in East Java, where it was founded in 1926. In the last two elections, Prabowo lost a significant number of votes in the region to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, and the defense minister aims to rectify that mistake in 2024.
Early in 2023, Prabowo made attempts to court Khofifah, but the chairwoman of NU's women's organization Muslimat declined the offer, arguing that she would focus on finishing her job as East Java governor.
Separately, Muhaimin Iskandar, chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the running mate of opposition candidate Anies Baswedan, said he did not believe that Khofifah's decision to join Prabowo's camp would jeopardize his plan to appeal to NU voters in East Java.
"In 2019, Khofifah also made a political decision that differed from the PKB and we're convinced that now we will also get the most votes in East Java. So it has nothing to do with her," Muhaimin said.
Muhaimin also said that Khofifah's move was not a surprise to him. "We have known for a long time about Bu Khofifah's political preference," Muhaimin said.