ANN/THE STAR – Prabowo Subianto received the backing of nearly half of the nine political parties in Parliament, putting him ahead of the two other candidates in Indonesia’s five-yearly presidential election slated for February 2024.
In a surprise decision yesterday, the nation’s oldest party Golkar and the Islamic-leaning National Mandate Party pledged support for the Defence Minister and former army general.
He earlier secured support from his own Gerindra party and the Islamic-leaning National Awakening Party (PKB).
Parties supporting Prabowo’s candidacy command 46 per cent of Parliament seats.
The other two presidential candidates, Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, have 26 per cent and 28 per cent.
Indonesian election law requires a party or a coalition of parties to have at least 20 per cent of Parliament seats to field a pair of presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the national election commission.
The coalition of parties backing Prabowo, reportedly favoured by incumbent President Joko Widodo, has yet to make a decision on who Prabowo would pair up with.
Names touted include state-owned enterprise minister Erick Thohir; PKB chairman and an early supporter of Prabowo’s candidacy Muhaimin Iskandar and Solo mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
