Gibran Prabowo's Vice Presidential Candidate, Jokowi and Megawati's Cold War Begins

President Jokowi and PDIP Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri (ANTARA)

JAKARTA -  Solo Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka will be declared Prabowo Subianto's running mate in the 2024 presidential election and is considered to be the trigger for a cold war between President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and PDIP General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri

The cold war between President Jokowi and Megawati will have an impact on PDIP's vote share and the victory of the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2024 presidential election.

"The cold war between Jokowi and Megawati will determine whether the PDIP's vote share in the 2024 elections will remain superior among other political parties or will even shrink as a result of the cold war," said CEO of Senopati Syndicate, Raylis Sumitra in his statement, Sunday, October 23.

Raylis said Jokowi was president for two terms. Apart from being supported by the power of political parties, he said, Jokowi was also supported by militant volunteer organs. Jokowi, he said, will face Megawati, who is the leader of the political party with the highest number of votes in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

"PDIP also has militant supporters of the Marhaen ideology promoted by Soekarno," stressed Raylis.

Raylis assessed that Jokowi and Megawati's cold war did not create major clashes. This is because all parties involved are political party elites who are members of the government coalition. According to him, victory in the cold war will be determined by alliances supported by political parties and non-political parties.

"Including negative or positive narratives and economic strength," he said.

Moreover, Raylis continued, the political party coalition in the 2024 elections is still dominated by Jokowi supporters in the government. He gave the example of the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair supported by the Nasdem Party and PKB, which will still be part of Jokowi's government coalition until 2024.

Then, the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) which supports Prabowo Subianto is also still a coalition in Jokowi's government. Meanwhile, the political party that supports Ganjar Pranowo, PDIP Party, is the party that oversees Jokowi.

In fact, Ganjar's companion, Mahfud MD, was the person Megawati previously approved to accompany Jokowi in the 2019 presidential election, even though he failed and was replaced by Ma'ruf Amin.

"And until this report was issued, there had been no official statement from the three presidential candidates stating that they were leaving Jokowi's government coalition," said Raylis.

It is known that Gibran Rakabuming Raka has been agreed by the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) to be Prabowo Subianto's vice presidential candidate. The plan is that Prabowo-Gibran together with KIM leaders, namely Gerindra, Golkar, PAN, Democratic Party, PBB, Garuda, and Gelora Parties will register themselves as presidential and vice presidential candidates with the KPU on Wednesday, October 25. Currently, Gibran is still a PDIP cadre.

Meanwhile, PDIP has officially nominated Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD in the 2024 presidential election. Ganjar-Mahfud registered with the KPU on Thursday, October 19. Apart from PDIP, Ganjar-Mahfud is supported by PPP, Hanura, and Perindo.