Online news outlet detik.com and kompas.com have reported that the winner of the Democratic Party Convention is Dahlan Iskan. The Minister of State-owned Enterprise has the highest electability out of all 11 contestants with 17.8 percent the chief of the committee for the convention Maftuh Basyuni told journalists a few hours ago.
Detik.com also reported that former Minister of Trade Gita Wirjawan and academic Anies Baswedan came second and third, the exact ordering isn’t exactly clear. Gita hasn’t been quoted, but Anies have spoke to media crew stating his optimism that he still has the chance to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
Indeed, the Democratic Party does not necessarily have to push forward the winner of the Democratic Party Convention as its presidential candidate, so Maftuh Basyuni said. The convention merely comes out with a ranking of candidate. The Party’s high council will still have to deliberate on what to do next. This basically means that the convention was much ado about nothing.
But of course, the Democratic Party has to declare a winner, else the whole process will look like a complete farce. Dahlan Iskan may have won, but he isn’t exactly a winning name. The frontrunners in the presidential election is still Joko “Jokowi” Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). Dahlan may have a chance at offering himself as the running mate of either Prabowo or Jokowi. The only problem is that both presidential hopefuls seem to have already decided on their preference.
So what will the Democratic Party do after this announcement? That depends on what President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has in mind as chairman of the party. For now, it looks like SBY prefers to sit on the fence. It isn’t clear why he prefers to do so. One reason we can think of is that he’s playing it safe. Declaring preference/endorsement may upset the other(s). SBY may not want to do that considering the risk that he may have to face should the person he does not endorse win the race. Would the winner come back at SBY with a vengeance for not endorsing his candidacy? Maybe.
The story is still developing, hence the lack of details. But we will definitely give you more in due course. So stay tuned as we monitor the development of 2014 politics the coming days.
By Yuventius Nicky
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