PAN Politician: No Challenger to Prabowo Visible Yet for 2029 Presidential Election

JAKARTA - Senior PAN politician Dradjad Wibowo assesses that no figure is truly ready to become a challenger to President Prabowo Subianto in the 2029 Presidential Election (Pilpres), even though the presidential nomination threshold could potentially become zero per cent.

Dradjad stated that, rationally, the current political parties have not shown readiness to nominate a candidate capable of rivaling Prabowo.

“If we calculate rationally, from the political parties, I haven’t seen any that are ready to become a challenger to Mr Prabowo at this point,” said Dradjad, quoted from the Gaspol Kompas.com YouTube broadcast on Tuesday (28/4/2026).

However, not all candidates who advance will have a significant chance of competing seriously.

“That later because it’s zero per cent, there might be some irrational rationalisations, well, it’s possible as long as they can participate (in the presidential race). There will be some, but we’ll see how big their chances are,” he explained.

Instead, he observes a trend where more figures are interested in becoming vice-presidential candidates (cawapres) to accompany Prabowo.

“In fact, what’s visible is that many aspire to become potential companions to Mr Prabowo,” he said.

He views it as natural for parties to nominate their cadres or general chairmen as candidates.

However, according to him, such dynamics will converge closer to the official registration period at the General Elections Commission (KPU).

“It will be in the few months leading up (to registration at the KPU). The calculations will already be realistic. Yes, the reality is like this. Our reality is like this,” he said.

With this situation, Dradjad sees the political map leading to the 2029 Pilpres as still highly dynamic, although no strong challenger to Prabowo has emerged so far.