Jakarta – The leadership of the National Mandate Party (PAN) has confirmed that the party has nominated a former comedian who currently serves as a lawmaker Eko "Patrio" Hendro Purnomo as a possible candidate for a ministerial position in the incoming Prabowo Subianto administration.
PAN chairman Zulkifli Hasan said on Tuesday that on top of being nominated for a cabinet position, Eko was also one of the strongest candidates to represent the party in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
"For the Jakarta gubernatorial election we have candidates like Zita Anjani and Pasha Ungu. Eko also but he will likely be up for a cabinet position," Zulkifli told reporters on Tuesday, referring to deputy speaker of the Jakarta legislative council and former pop singer Sigit Purnomo Said who ran for a legislative position representing Jakarta, respectively.
Separately, the leader of the PAN faction at the House of Representative, Saleh Partaonan Daulay, said the party would only propose names of candidates for cabinet minister without asking for a specific portfolio.
"We have no idea what specific positions will be offered, so we're preparing the names of ministers who we think will be qualified and one of them is Eko Patrio," Saleh said, as quoted by Kompas.
Habiburrokhman, the deputy chairman of the Gerindra Party, the political party of president-elect Prabowo has welcomed PAN's proposal to have Eko as a cabinet minister.
"Judging from how he looks, he deserves to be a minister. If you look at his suits, always tailored well. To my mind, Pak Eko deserves to be a minister," the senior Gerindra politician said, as quoted by Antara.