Indonesian presidential race firms as Prabowo-Jokowi rerun

Bloomberg

Former general Prabowo Subianto is firming as a candidate for Indonesia’s presidential election, raising the prospect of a rerun of the bitter 2014 race that saw Joko Widodo take power in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
In the strongest signal yet, the co-founder of the main opposition party known as Gerindra has indicated that Prabowo would be the party’s nominee for president, something that needs to be finalised by August ahead of the April 2019 vote. Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also Prabowo’s brother, said Gerindra had the funds to support a “credible” presidential campaign.
“All things being equal, he will run for president next time,” Djojohadikusumo said in an interview on Feb. 20 in Jakarta, when asked about Prabowo. “In the next election, 2019, we’re asking for our turn.”
Asked about whether representatives of the two men had held talks on a potential unity ticket, Djojohadikusumo said there’d been “communications,” although not initiated by Gerindra. “I would think that the only way that Prabowo would accede to that sort of offer is power sharing,” he said.
A repeat of the 2014 contest would see Widodo, known as Jokowi, pitted against an opponent who has sought to build an image of a populist in touch with voters on bread-and-butter issues like education and tackling inequality. While Jokowi is popular in opinion polls, and has focussed on improving access to healthcare and infrastructure in the archipelago of 17,000 islands, he has fallen short of a promise to boost economic growth to seven percent.
Jokowi is the first president to come from outside the political elite and the military, while both Prabowo and Djojohadikusumo have strong ties to
Indonesia’s dynastic families.