TEMPO.CO, Bogor - The United Development Party (PPP) secretary-general Arsul Sani said no talks on vice presidential candidate took place during the meeting between President Joko `Jokowi` Widodo and nine secretaries-general of the supporting parties in Bogor, Tuesday, July 31. According to him, all parties agreed that vice presidency issue is on the hand of Jokowi and supporting parties chairmen.

During the two-hour session, Arsul mentioned, Jokowi and the secretary-generals discussed the technical matters to win the 2019 presidential election. “Not about VP candidate because it’s on the chairmen. And we don’t touch on that as we trust Pak Jokowi to name the candidate,” he said after an event in Grand Garden Resto, Bogor.

Last week, Jokowi met six parties’ leader in Bogor Presidential Palace related to his vice presidential candidate. PPP chair Muhammad Romahurmuziy said a decision in light of Jokowi’s running mate had been made following the meeting.

However, Jokowi had not yet revealed the name thus far. Arsul rebutted the saying that the announcement had yet to be made due to the problem within the internal coalition in choosing a candidate to accompany Jokowi.

“It’s Pak Jokowi who knows [the name]. I think it’s [been decided], but we haven’t informed yet,” he added.

Earlier, Jokowi publicly mentioned the figures that possibly become his running mate. The names were Golkar chair Airlangga Hartarto, PKB chair Muhaimin Iskandar, BPIP adviser board Mahfud MD, and West Nusa Tenggara Governor Tuan Guru Bajang Zainul Majdi, as well as the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Maruf Amin.

AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI