TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Political parties are set to endorse Joko Widodo alias Jokowi in 2019 presidential election.
Hanura deputy chairman Nurdin Tampubolon said that his party will announce support for Jokowi in a national leadership meeting on August 4-6 in Bali. “It will affirm our stance at the party extraordinary meeting in 2016,” he told Tempo yesterday.
Earlier, Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) have said that they are ready to endorse Jokowi.
Read: Golkar Supports Jokowi for 2019 Election: Setya Novanto
Golkar has expressed their support since May. The support has been confirmed in a national leadership meeting this year. The party said that it will continue to back Jokowi despite the the national ID card (e-KTP) graft case that sees chairman Setya Novanto being named as a suspect.
In a national working assembly, the PPP chairman Muhammad Romahurmuziy said that the party will once again endorse Jokowi. “We are the first Islamic party to give our support,” he said. The National Democrat Party (Nasdem) have also shown its support in several occasions through chairman Surya Paloh.
Meanwhile, other government-supporting parties, such as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the National Awakening Party and the National Mandate Party, have yet to make a stance.
Political analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Arya Fernandes said that political parties do not have a strong candidate for 2019 election, forcing then to endorse Jokowi. “Support for Jokowi could also be a strategy to attract Jokowi voters in legislative election,” he said.
HUSSEIN ABRI DONGORAN
