Horse-trading intensifies in gubernatorial election
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A day before pairs of candidates for the governorship and vice governorship were to be announced on Friday, the three largest factions at the city council had not made up their minds and had even intensified their horse-trading.
However, Golkar, which is the fifth largest faction with eight representatives, decided to nominate incumbent Governor Sutiyoso and city secretary Fauzi Bowo as its first pair of gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates. Tuti Alawiyah, a former minister of women's affairs, and Amarullah Asbah, a city councillor, were named as the second pair of candidates.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the largest faction in the council with 30 of the total of 84 seats, had not announced its vice gubernatorial candidates although it had earlier announced Sutiyoso and Tarmidi Suhardjo as its gubernatorial candidates.
The faction's chairman, Agung Imam Soemanto, said it would consult with Sutiyoso and Tarmidi, chairman of the party's city chapter, before announcing its vice gubernatorial candidates.
"We will only select vice gubernatorial candidates who can cooperate with our gubernatorial candidates," he said.
The second largest faction, the National Mandate Party (PAN), with 13 seats on the council, has announced its 10 gubernatorial candidates with several other vice gubernatorial candidates. Sutiyoso was excluded from the list.
On Thursday, PAN faction chairman Nazamuddin and PAN Secretary General Abdillah Toha met with Tarmidi at a hotel in Central Jakarta to discuss the candidacy.
Tarmidi, who is only the second candidate from his party, said that Nazamuddin had asked him to become the PAN faction's gubernatorial candidate to be paired with Toha as the vice gubernatorial candidate.
"Yes, I was asked by Pak Nazamuddin to be his faction's gubernatorial candidate. He assured me that all 13 councillors from the faction will support my bid," Tarmidi told the press after the meeting.
Nazamuddin did not implicitly confirm Tarmidi's statement, but stressed his faction would accommodate the voices of the PDI Perjuangan's grassroots' level supporters.
The nomination of Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta military commander, by the PDI Perjuangan faction has been strongly condemned by party supporters as he was a suspect in the attack against supporters of PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 27 1996.
The third largest faction, the United Development Party (PPP) with 12 seats, which is only seeking the position of vice governor, had not announced its candidates by Thursday either.
But PPP faction deputy chairman Chudlary Syafi'i admitted that he was tasked by his faction to lobby the main factions, including PDI Perjuangan, Golkar and the military and police faction.
According to Chudlary he would be paired with Sutiyoso as the candidate or vice governor.
As of noon Thursday, the council's main factions had not made their final decision about the candidacy.
"At today's meeting between leaders of the 11 factions with the election committee, none of them dared to announce the pairs of candidates," chairman of the election Committee Muhammad Suwardi said.
Later in the day, Golkar announced its nominees.
While the Justice Party (PK) faction, which has four seats on the council, nominated Ahmad Heryawan and Igo Ilham, respectively chairman of the faction and chairman of PK's Jakarta branch office, as the party's candidates.
Other names which could be strong candidates is chairman of the City Council Eddy Waluyo from the military/police faction, which has gained support from the PPP, PAN and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB).
Suwardi said that the factions should submit their pairs of their candidates by 4 p.m. on Friday.
Each faction has the right to submit two pairs of gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates.