We never took Ahmad Dhani’s words that he wanted to run as Jakarta governor in 2017 seriously, but a part of us wanted it to be true – just to see how he would fare in a debate with incumbent Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Sadly, we won’t get to see that as Dhani last night announced that he’s stepping down from the race (aww, what a shame).
“It turns out one needs a lot of content (money) in one’s baggage to run for governor,” he told Kompas.
Dhani made it clear he’s not stepping down because of a lack of electability or popularity since a recent survey by Populi Center placed him second most popular potential candidate for Jakarta governor at 96%, slightly behind Ahok at 98.5% (though that only refers to the percentage of people who know who he is – not whether they would actually vote for him).
As such, Dhani said he feels he still has much to contribute to Jakarta so he announced that he’s open to the idea of being somebody’s vice governor, a position he says he won’t have to spend as much money to secure.
Who do you think would take Ahmad Dhani as their running mate in the 2017 governor election?
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