I'nesian election campaign kicks off
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Campaigning for next month's legislative election began in Indonesia after a popular politician was nominated for the presidency. Indonesians will go to the polls on April 9 for legislative elections and on July 9 to choose a new president.
The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) on Friday nominated the popular governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, for president after months of speculation. Recent opinion polls suggest that 52-year-old Widodo would win if the election were held now.
“There are 1,001 reasons why Jokowi should not be president and only one good reason why he could: there is nobody else better in the field,” political commentator Endy Bayuni said, using Widodo’s nickname.
Widodo, a former furniture businessman, rose to political prominence as the mayor of Solo in Central Java province thanks to his hands-on leadership style and programmes including free healthcare and education.
As governor, he has a reputation for paying frequent visits to Jakarta’s slums, and is known for riding a bicycle to work. His expected rivals in the presidential election are mostly wealthy politicians linked to the autocratic past, including former general and businessman Prabowo Subianto and tycoon Aburizal Bakrie.
On Saturday, 15 political parties contesting the elections signed a pledge to conduct campaigning peacefully. National police chief General Sutarman this month warned of violence and intimidation ahead of the polls after two local politicians were killed in Aceh province, which was ravaged by a separatist insurgency for decades until a peace pact was signed in 2005.
Indonesia emerged as the world’s third-largest democracy just over a decade ago after the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998. Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cannot run again after two terms in office.
Yudhoyono has been credited with steering Indonesia to political and economic stability, but his second term has been marked by indecision and criticism that he is not doing enough to combat corruption. His ruling Democratic Party has been severely tarnished by a series of corruption scandals involving its senior politicians and is not expected to win more than 15 per cent of the vote next month, according to recent polls.
The legislative elections will elect 692 members of the national assembly, made up of 560 members of the House of Representatives and 132 members of the Regional Representative Council, which is similar to the Senate in the United States.
