PAN Politician Predicts Many Figures Will Compete to Be Prabowo's Running Mate in 2029 Presidential Election
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Senior PAN politician Dradjad Wibowo believes that the dynamics leading to the 2029 Presidential Election (Pilpres) will instead be enlivened by many figures aspiring to become the vice-presidential candidate (cawapres) to accompany President Prabowo Subianto, rather than challengers.
According to Dradjad, no strong challengers to Prabowo from political parties have been visible so far.
“On the contrary, what is evident is that many aspire to become potential companions for Mr Prabowo. The competition is to accompany him,” said Dradjad, quoted from the Gaspol Kompas.com YouTube programme on Tuesday (28/4/2026).
“If we calculate rationally, from the political parties, I haven’t seen any that are ready to challenge Mr Prabowo at this point,” he explained.
Dradjad acknowledged that the possibility of many candidates emerging remains open.
However, some of them are likely to merely join the contest to liven it up without significant chances of winning.
Furthermore, Dradjad responded to the phenomenon of several political parties beginning to declare support for Prabowo, but not yet determining their vice-presidential candidate pairs.
“If a party wants to nominate its general chairman or cadre, that’s normal. After all, it’s a party,” said Dradjad.
Nevertheless, he stressed that the map of coalitions and candidate pairs will become clearer as the registration period with the General Elections Commission (KPU) approaches.
According to Dradjad, at that stage, the rationality or “common sense” of political parties will dominate in determining their political stance.
“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.
“Political parties are very realistic. And their calculations are usually very, relatively more accurate than those who are not party-affiliated. Because they can calculate directly, they can feel it directly,” he concluded.