Indonesia presidential election campaign period to open.
Indonesia’s electoral commission (KPU) has announced the three candidates that will run to succeed current President Joko Widodo in the 2024 election.
Anies Baswedan, an independent from the Coalition of Change for Unity (big tent party), served as Governor of Jakarta and served in President Widodo’s cabinet. Ganjar Pranowo, a member of the centre left PDI Party, served as governor of Central Java. Prabowo Subianto, a member of the right-wing Gerindra party, is the incumbent Minister of Defence. All three of these candidates from across the political spectrum will be looking to gain support from over 200 million voters in the world’s third largest democracy.
Candidate Subianto has a wide lead in early polls, with 39.7% of sampled voters favoring him as the next president. However, several polls have also shown that there is an ebb and flow of support between Subianto and Pranowo, with Baswedan as a distant third. Subianto’s previous campaign platforms for President in 2014 and 2019 were described as nationalist, the former Army officer has advocated for strong economic and social reform as well as a more assertive foreign policy.
The declared candidates, whilst spread across the political spectrum are mostly running on a right to centre-right policy platform, reflective of the growing nationalistic sentiment in the country. Based on the current polling it is a tight race in the lead up to February 2024, however, it does seem that after 2 attempts at the presidency, Subianto will become Indonesia’s president.