Before PDIP announced its decision, Ahok already received support from Nasdem , Hanura and Golkar. Ahok is close to PDIP leader Megawati Soekarnoputri and President Joko Widodo.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will see a lively contest in the regional head elections in February next year with 101 regions simultaneously electing their heads in seven provinces, 76 districts and 18 municipal cities.

During the simultaneous elections, these regions will elect seven governors, 76 district heads and 18 mayors. The most interesting among these will be the joust for the office of the Jakarta governor.

Besides being contesting in the capital city of the country, Jakartas incumbent Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) and his Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat have gathered support and will be nominated by the two largest political parties, the PDIP and the Golkar, besides with the Hanura and NasDem.

The scenario has taken an interesting turn because Ahok had previously voiced his intention to run as an independent candidate in the gubernatorial election. He is a former cadre of the Gerindra (Greater Indonesia Movement) Party which nominated him to the post of deputy governor on the same ticket on which was Joko Widodo (Jokowi), nominated by the PDIP in the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2012.

During his tenure as Jakartas deputy governor, he quit Gerindra in 2014 not long before Joko Widodo ran in the presidential race, which catapulted Jokowi to the top job and made way for Ahok to ascend to the office vacated by Joko Widodo.

However, Ahok, who previously wanted to contest for the gubernatorial office as an independent, changed his mind when political parties made him the offer.

It came as no surprise when the largest parties, the PDIP and the Golkar, along with the NasDem and Hanura, nominated him for the gubernatorial election next February.

On Tuesday, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) officially announced it will nominate incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly called Ahok, and his running mate, incumbent Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, for next years regional head elections.

The decision to nominate Ahok-Djorot pair was announced by PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristianto in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"For the Jakarta regional head election in 2017, we have decided to nominate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama as the Jakarta governor candidate and Djarto Saiful Hidayat as the vice governor candidate," Hasto declared at the PDIP headquarters at Jalan Diponegoror, Central Jakarta.

According to Hasto, the PDIP decided to nominate the Ahok-Djarot pair in an effort to continue the duos 2012 vision and mission about Jakartas development

"The Ahok-Djarot pair has been able to cooperate with the central government. After all, a number of surveys indicated that the level of satisfaction that Jakartas public felt with the leadership of Ahok-Djarot was high," observed Hasto.

The executive board of the National Democratic Party (NasDem) said it was convinced that both Ahok and Djarot were oriented to advance the cause of a new Jakarta. "The Ahok-Djarot pair has proven its worth with great performance and built Jakarta into a more orderly city," executive chairman of the board of NasDem, Martin Manurung, opined on Wednesday.

He reminded that the four parties that supported the Ahok-Djarot pair, namely the PDIP, Golkar, NasDem and the Peoples Conscience Party (Hanura), were political parties wedded to the philosophy of working for the people.

The Golkar Party is convinced that the support it has extended to the duo would be backed by the people.

"The synergy among the Golkar, Hanura, Nasdem, PDIP and the volunteers as well as sympathizers will transform into peoples power and would bring victory to Ahok and Djaroto who will return to lead Jakarta," Golkars Chairman for Jakarta, Fayakhun Andriadi, said.

Setya Novanto, the General Chairman of the countrys second largest party Golkar expressed optimism that incumbent candidates Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat would return to the Jakarta City Hall after the next gubernatorial election next year.

"Golkar is confident the pair would win the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017 especially with the support from PDIP," Novanto said in a statement here on Wednesday. Golkar appreciated the decision of PDIP in nominating Ahok as candidate in the next year election with Djarot as running mate.

Before PDIP announced its decision, Ahok already received support from Nasdem , Hanura and Golkar. Ahok is close to PDIP leader Megawati Soekarnoputri and President Joko Widodo.

Novanto called on other political parties to form a broader coalition with Golkar, PDI Perjuangan, Nasdem and Hanura in support of Ahok-Djarot.

Golkar already ordered its cadres to go to the grassroots in Jakarta asking them to vote for the team in the forthcoming election.

The pair are hard working leaders with pro people policy and have succeed in transforming Jakarta into a much more modern city, he said.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016