TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Some regional officials of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggles (PDI-P) urged Megawati Soekarnoputri to nominate Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo as presidential candidate before the legislative election.
PDI-P's Regional Executive Council in Yogyakarta for example, asked Megawati to announce Jokowi as presidential candidate on the party's anniversary on January 10, 2014.
According to PDI-P's Yogyakarta Regional Executive Board Deputy Chairman Supriyanto, the result of the party's meeting in last September mandated the party's chairperson to announce a presidential candidate. Supriyanto asserted that in consideration of current political situation, the party's internal condition, and ideological interests, he will ask for Jokowi's nomination as presidential candidate
Similar to Supriyanto, PDI-P Regional Executive Board in Bengkulu and Pdip-Officials in Ngawi also proposed Jokowi to be announced as presidential candidate before legislative election.
Jokowi is considered to be able to gather a lot of votes for PDI-P. A survey conducted by CSIS last May showed that if PDIP nominated Jokowi as a presidential candidate before legislative election, PDIP would obtain 24.9 percent of the total votes. On the other hand, if PDI-P does not nominate Jokowi, the party would only gain 12.7 percent votes.
PITO AGUSTIN RUDIANA | PHESI ESTER JULIKAWATI | PARLIZA HENDRAWAN | NOFIKA DIAN NUGROHO