PDIP Will Announce Candidates For Risma's Replacement In The City Of Surabaya Today

PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto at a party event (Photo: DPP PDIP)

JAKARTA - After being delayed, PDI Perjuangan will announce the candidate for mayor of Surabaya that he will carry. The announcement, which was actually made last week, was delayed due to allegations of technical problems.

"The highlight of the announcement of the candidates was made at the PDI-P DPP Meeting which was declared open to the public and conducted online at 14.00 WIB," said PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto in a written statement quoted on Wednesday, September 2.

The reason for making this city of heroes the culmination of the announcement of regional head candidates is because PDIP has placed Surabaya as the main political stage after Jakarta. According to Hasto, Surabaya is not only the second largest city in Indonesia but also a city that has many achievements.

"Surabaya is very worthy to be placed at the top of the announcement of candidates for regional head and deputy regional head of the PDI Perjuangan because in this city the spirit of nationalism and patriotism thrives," he said.

In determining the candidate for mayor, Hasto ensures that the party bearing the bull emblem is very careful. Moreover, all this time the leadership of his cadre, Tri Rismaharini and his staff has been felt by the people in the city of Surabaya.

He also said that the Chairperson of PDIP, Megawati Soekarnoputri, had carefully considered the prospective replacement for Risma to lead Surabaya and was directly involved in taking care of people's lives and determining the future direction of the city.

"That is why the PDI Perjuangan is so careful. Even for the sake of this responsibility, the announcement of the city of Surabaya was made specifically," he said.

Regarding the cadres to be promoted, political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Aisah Putri Budiarti assessed that PDIP as a strong party in Surabaya certainly has potential local cadres. Thus, the delay in this announcement was not because they felt they did not have qualified cadres after Risma had served for two terms.

"The problem is how then these cadres can win and get strong support with the internal dynamics of the PDIP and the dynamics of local politics in Surabaya, which of course always develop, especially after entering the regional elections," said Putri when contacted.

Previously, on Friday, August 28, PDIP canceled its candidate in the Surabaya Pilwalkot. According to the Chairperson of the PDIP DPP Puan Maharani, his party has already obtained recommendations for candidates for the mayor of Surabaya. However, the announcement had to be postponed because the East Java PDIP DPD and Surabaya DPC did not have a connection in the online announcement.

"Because it has not been connected, it will be announced at a time that will be announced again," said Puan in the online announcement.

The cancellation of this announcement was followed by a party consolidation which was held on Sunday, August 31. During his visit to the DPD PDIP East Java, PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto emphasized that his party does not want the leadership in Surabata City to fall into the wrong hands or those who are supported by large funds.

So they emphasized that they would not choose candidates for mayor in the city of heroes arbitrarily.

"The future leadership of the city of Surabaya is the continuity of the vision and mission that has been put in place by the previous mayor, Mas Bambang DH, Mrs. Risma, and especially the continuity of hopes for the little people so that Surabaya will continue to be led by those who have a populist spirit," said Hasto in the consolidation.

It is known, currently in the Surabaya Pilwalkot there is one candidate who will advance and has been promoted by a number of parties such as Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), Gerindra, the United Development Party ( PPP), Democrats, and NasDem. He is the former East Java Regional Police Chief Machfud Arifin.