JAKARTA, May 29 – Former Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri (photo) has hinted she would not run for president for a third time and would instead, endorse younger politicians, including Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as the party’s candidate in the 2014 presidential election.
Local media reported Wednesday that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairman and daughter of Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno, had expressed a desire for regeneration in the party.
A PDI-P executive, Puan Maharani, said the party had consistently nominated younger politicians in regional elections and would likely use the same strategy at national-level.
“If a potential young candidate is available for nomination (for the presidential poll), why not?.
“Of course, Bu Mega (Megawati) wants regeneration to take place in the PDI-P,” Puan Maharani, who is also Megawati’s daughter, was quoted by English daily, The Jakarta Post, as saying.
PDI-P, the largest opposition party in the republic, has yet to nominate a presidential candidate as the decision rests with Megawati.
Megawati remains a powerful figure within the nationalist party and is still seen as a potential presidential candidate by several pollsters despite her defeats in the past two direct elections.
This is the first time that Megawati has suggested the party was open to nominating a candidate, other than herself.
The suggestion came as various surveys have found that Jokowi, a rising star in national politics, is far more popular than Megawati and that he would gain the most votes if an election were held today.
A recent opinion poll by Jakarta-based think-tank, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), for example, found that if the election were to take place today, Jokowi, 51, would get 28.6 per cent of the votes, ahead of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron Lt Gen (Rtd) Prabowo Subianto with 15.6 per cent, Golkar Party (Golkar)) chairman Aburizal Bakrie with seven per cent and Megawati with 5.4 per cent.
Other than Jokowi, Puan Maharani and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung have also been tipped by several observers as potential presidential candidates.
Following her 2001-2004 stint as Indonesian president, Megawati has run twice for the post but was defeated in both attempts.
– BERNAMA
