Mega-Jokowi ticket is on the table: PDI-P

Mega-Jokowi ticket is on the table: PDI-P

Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Tue, December 10 2013, 10:13 AM



The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) central board said on Monday that it would not rule out the possibility of pairing party chair Megawati Soekarnoputri with popular Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for the 2014 presidential election.

PDI-P deputy secretary-general Hasto Kristianto said that an internal survey on party members revealed that the possible ticket had received a warm welcome.

“When we asked about the future leadership [of the country] in our internal survey, Megawati and Jokowi were mentioned,” Hasto told reporters.

Hasto said Megawati was the preferred candidate for the country’s top job given the multitude of problems that the country would have to deal with in the future.

“Bu Mega is seen as the ideal figure to overcome the country’s serious problems,” he said.

Hasto said that Megawati could also play the role of a protector for Jokowi.

He said that the popular Jakarta governor had become an easy target for his political opponents.

“We need a guarantee to protect Jokowi. Although more than 60 percent of the country’s citizens support him, he could crumble if he has no protector,” Hasto said.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) November survey found that more then 34 percent of respondents preferred Jokowi as the country’s next president.

The survey also found that 29.9 percent of respondents would vote for the PDI-P if the party nominated Jokowi for the 2014 presidential election.

In its most recent poll, CSIS found that 20.6 percent of respondents who in April said they would have supported Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, would now vote for Jokowi.

Jakarta-based pollster Indikator found that Jokowi would get 47.4 percent of the vote if an election were to take place today. Trailing behind Jokowi was Prabowo with 15.8 percent and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie with 12.6 percent.

Meanwhile, as support for a Jokowi presidential bid grows, many have begun to speculate about who would succeed him as Jakarta governor.

On Sunday, Megawati had breakfast with Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, raising speculation that he was being auditioned for the job.

Also present in the meeting were antigraft activist Teten Masduki and PDI-P lawmaker Rieke Diah Pitaloka.

“Politics was not discussed,” PDI-P executive Trimedya Panjaitan said when asked about the meeting.