If anyone can break the dominance of political parties in Indonesian politics, it’s Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Ahok, who is contemplating running for the top Jakarta job again in 2017, has already made his own calculations as to whether he could he run as an independent without the backing of a political party.
Article 41 from Law No. 8 in 2015 regarding Regional Elections states that a regional head candidate must gain support from a minimum of 7.5% of that region’s total population in order to be nominated. According to the Central Statistics Bureau (BPS), Jakarta’s population is 10,075,000, meaning that Ahok has to at least gain 750 thousand supporters from Jakartans.
“If I were to run for governor as an independent, getting 1 million [supporters] from the people of Jakarta shouldn’t be hard,” Ahok said at City Hall today, as quoted by Merdeka.
Ahok is not a part of a political party ever since he quit Prabowo’s Gerindra last year over ideological differences.
Would you support Ahok if he runs as an independent in 2017?
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