JAKARTA: The Gerindra Party has endorsed Dhani Wirianata, a former personal secretary of party chairman and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, as its candidate for Bandung mayor in the regional head elections in November.
Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani announced Dhani’s nomination on Friday (July 19) at an event in West Java’s provincial capital.
“Following the decision, I ask all politicians of the Gerindra Bandung chapter as well as our grassroots organisations and supporters [...] to help Dhani win the election,” Muzani said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
According to the party’s website, Dhani served as Prabowo’s personal secretary from 2015 to 2020 and is “one of Prabowo’s most trusted aides”.
He is also among the dozens of deputy secretaries-general working under Muzani at the Gerindra central board.
In the 2024 general election in February, Dhani ran for a seat in the House of Representatives as a candidate of the West Java IX electoral district, covers the regencies of Majalengka, Subang and Sumedang, but failed in his bid.
But the Gerindra central board’s decision to nominate Dhani for Bandung mayor was met with opposition from at least 20 members of its Bandung chapter, who said they had not been involved in the process, Bisnis.com reported.
It remains unclear who will be Dhani’s running mate or if Gerindra plans to partner with other political parties in Bandung’s mayoral race, specifically those grouped in the Gerindra-led Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) that backed Prabowo’s presidential bid in February.
Other parties have begun vetting potential candidates and seeking alliances to contest the mayoral race in Bandung in view of the Aug 27-29 candidate registration with the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Among those thought to be in the running is Atalia Praratya, the wife of popular former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil of the Golkar Party, a KIM member, though she has never held public office.
Golkar recently gave its strongest hint yet that the party was now fully behind Ridwan’s reelection bid in West Java and had pulled away from nominating him in Jakarta’s gubernatorial race.
Other KIM members including Gerindra, however, are continuing to push Ridwan for the Jakarta race and former Purwakarta regent Dedi Mulyadi of Gerindra running for West Java governor instead. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
