PDIP Finally Usung Pramono Anung - Rano Karno, Why Did The Compact Party Leave Anies Baswedan?

The candidate pair for Governor and Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Pramono Anung and Rano Karno greeted residents while walking to the DKI Jakarta KPU Office, Wednesday (28/8/2024). (ANTARA/Muhammad Ramdan/tom)

The riddle of who the PDI-P (PDIP) candidates will carry in the 2024 Jakarta Regional Head Election (Pilkada) has been answered. The party, which was headed by Megawati Soekarnoputri, finally brought its own cadre, Pramono Anung-Rano Karno.

Previously, PDIP was rumored to be close to Anies Baswedan. The Governor of DKI Jakarta for the 2017-2022 period has just left three parties carrying it in the 2024 Presidential Election (Pilpres), namely PKS, PKB and NasDem.

Anies is scheduled to visit the PDIP DPP Office, Monday (26/8), when the party announced that it would be a candidate for a three-wave regional head. However, until the announcement was completed, there was no Anies name on it. He was not even seen during the announcement, although previously a photo of himself and Rano Karno circulated.

Entering the first day of registration for the Jakarta Regional Election, only Pramono Anung's name, who is currently still serving as Cabinet Secretary (Mensekab) appears to the public.

Duet Pramono Anung-Rano Karno has officially registered as a candidate for governor and deputy governor of Jakarta to the Jakarta KPU Office, Wednesday (28/8/2024) afternoon WIB.

The cancellation of the PDIP to carry Anies Baswedan in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada was actually predictable from the start, especially after Megawati encouraged the former Minister of Education to become a cadre and 'nurut' with the supporting party.

When the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the threshold (threshold) for nomination of regional heads is no longer 25 percent of the votes acquired by political parties/joint political parties resulting from the previous DPRD legislative election, or 20 percent of the DPRD seats, PDIP can carry a candidate for governor.

Previously, they were beaten by 12 parties in the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) Plus which had declared support for Ridwan Kamil-Suswono.

Following the Constitutional Court's decision, the names of Anies Baswedan and PDIP are often associated. The party bearing the white muzzle is considered to have a big chance to win the Jakarta Pilkada if it carries Anies.

The electability of the man who was born on May 7, 1969, is still high in various surveys, including according to Litbang Kompas which shows Anies Baswedan is at the top of the electability of the Jakarta governor's referral.

Anies was chosen by 29.08 percent of respondents, followed by PDIP cadres and former Jakarta Governor Basuka Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok who were selected by 20 percent of respondents. Meanwhile, Ridwan Kamil only occupies third position with 8.5 percent.

In fact, there is no name Pramono Anung in the governor's list of electability in the Kompas Research and Development survey, and other survey institutions.

Executive Director of PolCom SRC (Political Communication Studies and Research Center) Andriadi Achmad saw a number of reasons that made PDIP prefer Pramono Anung over Anies Baswedan in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada.

First, Pramono Anung is the best senior cadre of PDIP, so he should be nominated as a candidate for governor in the Jakarta Pilkada.

Andriadi also considered it would be strange if PDIP insisted on nominating Anies, only because he saw only electability. Apart from Anies being not a cadre himself, PDIP was also an opposition party when he was still serving as Governor of Jakarta.

"PDIP is an opposition party that is always at odds and critical of Anies Baswedan's policies," said Andriadi.

Another reason is that ideologically Anies Baswedan is more identified with Muslims, as well as PKS who is very loyal to support Anies Baswedan from the 2017 Jakarta Pilkada to the 2024 presidential election, even June 2024 and then declared the SAMAN (Anies Baswedan - Sohibul Iman) finally disbanded the road in early August.

The public certainly remembers how Anies played identity politics when dealing with Ahok, who at that time was promoted by PDIP, in the 2017 Jakarta Pilkada. So, even though Anies Baswedan's electability was high in various surveys, according to Andriadi, it was not a guarantee to win the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada.

"If it is carried by PDIP, it is not necessarily the majority of urban Islam in Jakarta will choose Anies Baswedan, who has been his loyal voter," added the FISIP Lecturer at Al Azhar University Indonesia.

Contacted separately, Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah considers PDIP not to be serious against the fat coalition that is members of KIM Plus in the Pilkada for choosing to leave Anies Baswedan and carrying Pramono Anung to pair up with Rano Karno.

Dedi assessed that if PDIP did not carry candidates with high electability to compete in the Jakarta Pilkada, he predicted that the party would only follow the rhythm of the interests of other parties.

"Changes occur in political parties that do not yet have a coalition, such as PDIP, changes in PDIP, even though they will eventually erode the interests of other parties, for example in Jakarta," said Dedi.

He added that if PDIP failed to carry Anies and chose the Pramono-Rano Karno duet, it would indicate that they were not serious about competing in the Jakarta Pilkada to fight the Ridwan Kamil-Suswono duet promoted by KIM Plus.

"Pramono does not have a good electability record while their opponents are a fat coalition and popular figures," said Dedi.

Meanwhile, PDIP spokesman Seno Bagaskoro emphasized that the party does not only rely on show to win (how to win) but shows to government (leading the right and right) in considering carrying Pramono Anung.

"The political experience of the PDI-P shows that often the figures who at the beginning of the campaign period seemed not dominant in the electoral survey, it turned out that that was actually the most appropriate figure," said Seno.